The New Guardian
by The Blue Dragon Princess
Summary: I've never cared much about being believed in. I never really cared that I was alone, it always seemed somewhat natural to me. However, that all began to change, when Pitch, the legend of darkness, fear and evil rose against the guardians, the only ones I had ever cared for, putting their very existence in danger. I joined them, and this is my story.
1. A Legend is Born

Rise of the Guardians: A New Guardian

A legend is born

_I've never cared much about being believed in. I never really cared that I was alone, it always seemed somewhat natural to me. however, that all began to change, when Pitch, the legend of darkness, fear and evil rose against the guardians, the only ones i had ever cared for, putting their very existence in danger. I joined them, in the fight against Pitch, the adventure of a lifetime, and __**this**__ is my story._

It was so warm, so hot, it felt as if my skin was melting away. There was a horrible smell and I slowly opened my eyes, finding myself completely surrounded in a bright red light, flames dancing around me. I knew I should have screamed, but I didn't. It was hot and strange, but did not hurt. I examined my hand, unburned despite the scorching flames. The flames followed my hand as it moved and I became intrigued, I lifted my other hand, the flames on my left following it's movement like a small puppy. I smiled, rising to my feet, the fire remaining around me in a ring. I was in the middle of the street, and based on the full moon above me, it had to be at least midnight. I took a cautious step forward and the fire around me vanished, causing me to leap back startled. Hesitantly I glanced at my hands, when nothing happened I lowered them to my sides disappointed.

Fire shot from the palms of my hands, shooting me up like a rocket. I suppressed a shriek and landed atop a roof, stumbling to regain my balance. Once I did I walked carefully across the roof, wondering what had happened to make me like this, suddenly I froze,

_Who am I? _I wondered coming to a stop. a chill racing down my spine, I flicked out my wrist creating more flames, pondering the reason.

_Ember._

A voice called down to me, I leapt to my feet doing a complete 360, only to realize there was no one in sight.

_Ember._

I heard the voice whisper again, this time I looked up at the full moon, barely able to make out the shadow of a man in the white orb. I stared at it in awe for a moment.

"Hello?" I asked meekly, there was no response. I waited for a while, somehow convinced that the moon had talked to me, but after awhile, I gave up, and began to wander the streets. i came across a couple kids, one boy and one girl, dressed in rags and curled in the corner of an alley, shivering and cold. my heart almost stopped as I bent down to them.

"Hey are you alright?" i asked, but they ignored me. "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you." i said gently they didn't move, i sighed, thinking for a moment before waving my hand, lighting the dead garbage fire next to them. This time, the they moved, scrambling over to the fire and curling up to warm themselves, the boy's leg accidentally kicking me, passing right through me. I froze startled and didn't move for a few moments as they warmed themselves, their shivering decreasing. Slowly I backed away, turning and fleeing, I used fire as rockets again and found myself flying through the air until I was far away from the city, until I was finally alone. I didn't know what was going on, or why i was there, i didn't know if i ever would. but eventually, I just stopped caring.

-  
Years have passed since them, I spent much of my time mastering my newfound powers, I added fire where ever I saw fit. if light or warmth was needed, if something needed to be destroyed, such as garbage, I would burn it effortlessly and save others the hassle of trying to get rid of it and it's bulk. I have spent years searching for someone who can see me, and so far there have been very few. They call themselves the Guardians.

The easter bunny, Santa Clause, the Sandman, and the tooth fairy. At first I almost didn't believe it, how was it possible I don't know, but they are undoubtedly real.

I am Ember, the master of fire.

It was just a normal day, nothing too strange or out of the ordinary, yet. I learned that the sooner I embrace the silence and the being ignored, the better off I'll be. once night fell, and the humans were cold, I found myself perfectly warm, I was never too cold, nor too warm. leisurely I made my way down the street, there was no moon tonight and i found that unsettling, I always felt protected somehow when i could see it. my fiery hair twisted and flickered in the chill air, dancing in the wind. When i heard something behind me. I spun around nervously. there was nothing there, I took a deep breath and continued walking only to see something flash in the corner of my eye. Panicked I spun around once again there was nothing there.

_It's just my imagination. there is nothing there, there is nothing there. _I took a deep breath, but before I could take another step I heard something, this time I knew it wasn't imagination. I looked up to see black things flying around, they looked like demented horses, skeletal black horses that just seemed surreal, as if they couldn't exist outside of a nightmare. Startled, I stumbled back looking up to see more of them, at least 20 of them. I hesitated a moment before following one inside a bedroom. I saw it touch the magic of the sandman hanging above a little girl's head, the sand shriveled and turned black as the girl whimpered, curling up into a ball, obviously having a nightmare. The black horse prancing around her. i stared at her for a moment, confused she was pitiful, and helpless. finally i reached over, the horse bit at me angrily and I withdrew after a moment i tried again, this time more forcefully. i grabbed the mini horse, grasping it tightly it shrieked horribly before it burst into flames, the sand evaporating into the air.

The little girl stopped whining, fading into silence she stopped dreaming all together. i pitied her lost dream, but nothing seemed better than her nightmare. I walked back to the window, the horses flying across the sky, and I sighed, there was no way i could do this all night, I could never stop so many of them.

_What are they? _I wondered just as something silver and white flashed across the sky, thrown to the ground by one of the horses. startled I rushed outside, seeing it was a boy with silver hair and a blue sweater. I rushed to his side expecting him to look right through me.

"Get back!" he shouted, pushing me back as the horse flew at us. He pointed his staff at the horse, wrapping the nook around it's neck and freezing it to ice, the horse falling to the ground and shattering into a million useless pieces. We turned to each other, breathing heavily shocked for a moment.

"You can see me?" I muttered, barely above a whisper. He nodded. We stared at each other amazed for a moment, both startled and surprised before we were interrupted by the neighing of another horse. he spun around to late to stop the horse flying towards him. i leapt to my feet flinging my hand out, fire sparked and the horse caught fire, bursting into flames, whining as it shriveled away. he stared at me shocked for a moment.

"Who are you?" He asked me, I opened my mouth to answer but was cut off as a new heard swarmed towards us. We both staggered to our feet and braced ourselves.

"What are these things?" I shouted over the roar of noise.

"They are Pitch's minions." he replied casually, gripping his staff tightly.

"Who's Pitch?" I asked with a tilt of my head, he didn't respond, we didn't have time, there was a wild cry and a crash from the rooftops beside the horses. There was laughter as a large man driving a sleigh led by reindeer. i couldn't stop myself from smiling as i recognized Santa. he slid to a stop beside us, leaving a trail of dissolving black sand hanging in the air around him. Santa laughed loudly as he climbed out of the Sleigh. A smile spread ear to ear as i saw him, rising to my feet to face him. "Santa!" i cried out, happily yet surprised. He laughed joyfully his deep voice rublimbling.

"Ember, come to join the fun?" he asked wrapping his arm around my shoulders and playfully ruffling my fiery hair hair as he dragged me towards a group of black sand horses. I squirmed from his grip and bumped into a nauseous looking easter bunny, he looked at me.

"Oi Mate," he greeted, "Better be careful." he warned, stumbling past me drunkenly. The tooth fairy remained on the sleigh, quickly muttering addresses to her fairies fluttering back and forth around her, the sandman was nowhere to be found. The boy glanced at me a little confused.

"Ember?" he asked. i stepped up to him, my hand ablaze in flames as i shot apart a demon horse beside him with a fireball.

"Yea, and you?" I asked as he froze one coming up behind me, it dropped to the ground shattering like glass.

"I'm Jack Frost."


	2. Meeting Pitch

Chapter 2

Meeting Pitch

_I really wasn't going to post this so soon but because this story picked up more followers and reviews faster than my other stories had I decided it would be ok to give you guys two chapters in two days….keep in mind this was the last bit I had written so the rest might be coming a little slower, since I still have to finish writing but I will try and post frequently. Thanks for reading! ^_^_

That's how I met Jack Frost, legend of ice and snow. An ominous wind blew over everything and we all turned to see Sandman come into view, two golden whips in his hands as he chased after a tall slender man in a black robe, his features white and pale, skinny to a fault, I could have mistaken him as a skeleton. The man cringed each time the Sandy whipped him but I could tell it did no real damage for now. I saw something flash in his eyes as he spun back to Sandman reaching out his hand, his dark shadowy sand springing from his hand and wrapping around Sandman and flinging him to us. We all stared up at the man in black, my stomach turning, the very sight of him set me on edge and for some reason I found myself panicking.

"Pitch." Santa growled taking a step towards him. Everyone was tense and glared at him, even tooth fairy with her army of mini fairies stood as if ready to attack him.

"Oh now calm down." The shadow man, Pitch said with a sly smile. "No need to be so angry." his voice taunting and somehow demeaning. One of the horses moved close to me but I didn't dare move. Pitch's attention turned to me, off to the edge of the others. "And who are you?" he asked a hint of surprise in his voice. I meant to introduce myself confidently, but when I spoke, I was only able to stutter my name.

"E-Ember." Pitch waved his hand as if I wasn't important.

"You're not a guardian therefore not concerning." he said lazily seeing me stumble as the horse snapped at me. Pitch laughed, his voice echoing as he vanished, appearing beside me, stroking the horse a second later. "Aren't they precious?" he asked rhetorically. "They can smell fear. They are drawn to it, they feed on It." he said admiring his monster before turning to me. "And you, my dear, reek of it." I gritted my teeth and lunged at him, my hands and hair ablaze as I showered the area with fire, but when the fire cleared and only embers fell, only the horse lay shriveling to ash. We all looked around and spotted him once again on the roof staring at me, smiling evilly. "Interesting, so you are the legend of fire." he observed. "I wasn't aware there was one."

"Well you were wrong." I said childishly defensive, the fire on my body flaring brighter. Jack stumbled away from me and for a moment I wondered if I had burned him. Pitch shrugged unconcerned.

"It's not like you're important. Perhaps we will meet again one day but for now." he looked back at the others. "You're the ones I'm interested in." signs flashed above Sandman's head.

"And what exactly is it you want?" Easter bunny interpreted, his voice threatening.

"To be believed in, have you no idea what it is like to be forgotten? Locked away, isolated and alone?" he asked with mock sorrow. "Every human I see looks right past me and its so painful." he pretended put a hand to his heart dramatically. "It's your entirely fault you know." he said growing serious. "You locked me away from the world and hogged all the children to yourselves. Now it's your turn to be forgotten." he spat angrily, his words like acid as he began to whirl in a sea of clouds and shadows. "You _will _know my pain." and just like that he was gone, vanished into thin air. We looked around for a moment, the black horse monsters fading and retreating on command with their master. We all stood there for a moment, absorbing what had just happened when suddenly one of the little fairies hurried up to tooth fairy, whatever she said made Tooth fairy go ballistic and she began to panic.

"My fairies! My fairies!" she cried out. "Pitch is attacking my tooth castle!" We all exchanged glances and everyone began to climb up onto Santa's sleigh. I stood there staring at them for a moment, hesitating. Jack turned to me and reached out a hand.

"You coming?" he asked with a smile. I smiled and took his hand climbing onto the sleigh, his hand momentarily feeling strange but I passed it off.

"Oh no." The Easter bunny said. "No, no, no, this time we travel my way." he tapped his foot twice and a large hole opened up beneath us and the entire sleigh fell down into the nothingness, twisting and looping and pitching in the darkness. Finally the other end opened up and we all barreled out into the tooth fairies castle. It was in chaos. Dark horses chased after fairies or ran away with boxes of teeth. For a moment we all just stood there stunned and unable to move.

Jack was the first to react. He lunged forward and snatched one of the fairies out of the air, protecting it from the oncoming horse. The horse neighed and reared on its hind legs before vanishing with the rest of its kind. Leaving tooth palace completely empty. We stared for a moment, in shock of the vacant scene before us, knowing it was a lost battle. The tooth fairy collapsed to her knees with a look of pure horror. Jack offered her the small fairy he had managed to save and that cheered her a little, relieved at least one of them survived the attack. I felt my heart drop, it was pitiful, the most powerful legends at their lowest point.

"Muahahaha" we all jumped as Pitch's voice rang out above us all. Echoing down the empty corridors or the castle.

"Pitch!" the tooth fairy growled rising to her feet, pure anger in her eyes.

"Oh scary." Pitch taunted, stepping into view from the shadows above us.

"What have you done with them?" She cried out with a mixture of emotion, I tried to imagine the pain and the anger and the sorrow the tooth fairy must have been experiencing, but I knew I couldn't comprehend it. Each little fairy was almost part of her spirit, and having them taken possibly worse must have been horrid. Pitch just smiled in response to Tooth's plea, striding across the platform happily.

"That is none of your concern." Pitch said. "Just remember that they are out of reach now and forever." he added with a venomous scowl.

"Pitch let them go!" Jack Frost demanded taking a fighting stance and aiming his staff at the robed man.

"Or what Frosty? You gonna throw a snowball at me?" he shot back with a smirk. Jack's staff glowed with his eyes as he tensed. He let out an angry cry as a beam of ice shot from the nook of his staff aimed right at Pitch. Pitch vanished into the air in a billow of black smoke, causing the ice to miss and freeze a patch of the golden wall instead. Pitch's laugh rang out somewhere to my left and we all spun to find him leaning lazily against the wall. He seemed to notice me again and raised an eyebrow. "You again? I thought you went your separate ways." he said eyeing me suspiciously. "I suggest you get out of here, you've nothing to do with this and I doubt you'll like the consequences of getting involved." a shiver ran down my spine at his words.

"Well you're wrong." I stated matter-o-factly, trying to build my courage. Pitch either didn't hear me or ignored me completely, turning his attention back to the guardians as Sandman slashed at him with one of his golden whips, the signs above him flashing 'leave her alone' or something like that. Pitch recoiled as it wrapped around his arm, gripping him tightly, Sandman leapt into the air, pulling Pitch with him before slamming him back down into the ground at our feet Pitch groaned and rolled out of the way as the Easter bunny's huge boomerang hit the ground where Pitch's head had been not a second before. Jack leapt forward shooting ice at pitch as he leapt back, avoiding it.

Santa stepped forward and Pitch's eyes turned deadly as he flung himself up into the air. Black horses appearing from nowhere and catching him. The sky began to fill with darkness from the horses as they stampeded around the night sky. I stumbled back taken by surprise. There were so many more than there were on the streets. I watched the others taking fighting stances and Sandman leapt into the sky, riding his golden sand after Pitch. Jack quickly followed as well as the tooth fairy and Bunnymund...with the help of Santa and his sleigh of course, until I was the last one standing there.

I hesitated for a moment, _this isn't my fight. I could take Pitch's advice and get out while I still can. _With another look at the demon horses it was tempting. I was no match for them, I didn't even know who this Pitch guy was, but then I remembered Jack's face, and I couldn't stop myself from lunging into the air after the others. My hands and hair blazed with fire as I hit the horses, shattering the monsters to bits, incinerating them. Sandman took on Pitch, and from what I could tell he was kicking Pitch's scrawny, little butt, flinging him up and slamming him down, hitting him with his whips. Yup never get onto Sandman's bad side. From what I can gather he is the oldest and therefore most powerful of the guardians, that's why he never talked, he was originally from an age where it was unneeded. He and Pitch were arch enemies, more so than the other guardians, after all dreams and nightmares were almost the same, it mattered who controlled it.

My hands and hair burned with fire as I attacked the oncoming horses. My touch turning them to ash with a quick flash.

Everything was fine, we had everything under control. Tooth fairy was tying up minions with her floss, Santa and Bunnymund were kicking butt, Sandman had Pitch, Jack was fighting and I was doing ok. But we must have gotten drunk on the idea of victory, and I suppose we became over-confident. But that all came to an end when Sandy threw Pitch out of sight, turning back to us scattered across the sky with a big smile. That's when Pitch rose on a cloud behind him a bow and arrow of evil sand in hand, aimed right at the sandman's back. We all screamed lunging towards him, but it was too late.

Sandman turned around just in time to be impaled, his golden body turning black, his sand body rotting away. He gave us one last sad smile as he was carried away on the wind, disappearing forever into the full moon. I didn't move for a moment, I was so dumbstruck that my jets stopped and I began to fall from the sky and in my daze I didn't even try to save myself as Pitch howled in triumphant laughter, even doing a little dance in his victory. I was only brought back to reality by Jack's cry as he charged at Pitch, his staff covered in ice he rammed him through shooting him away into the distance, Pitch reached out desperately, grabbing onto the tip of Jack's staff as he fell.

His dark sand seeping from his hand blasted at Jack sending both of them flying limply through the sky. My head snapped up to him as Jack fell towards me. I readied myself and flew to him catching him in my arms before he could hit the ground. Immediately a searing pain raced through my arms and it felt as it my skin was sizzling, some disgusting mix of frostbite and first degree burns. My skin felt as if it was ripping and my arms turned blue as we landed onto tooth palace. By then I couldn't take it, the second I landed, I dropped Jack, reeling back clutching my arms tightly to my chest. The others landed around Jack as he stirred his face pained as he climbed to his feet. He had similar marks to mine only his looked as if he had been burned severely.

"Oi mate, are ye ok?" Bunnymund asked him.

"Yea, I'm fine." he glanced up at me, wincing in pain while all I could do was stare at him shocked. "How about you? Ember, are you alright?" I nodded.

"Jack I'm sorry I was just trying to help." I said quietly. He shook his head.

"It's no problem." he said in an unusually serious tone. His skin was already healing as was mine. None of us made a sound for a minute as a black and gold dust fell to the ground, settling around us. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from sobbing. None of us spoke for a few minutes, yet somehow the message came across loud and clear.

Pitch was going to pay for what he's done.


	3. One Tooth Two Tooth My Tooth Your Tooth

Chapter 3

One tooth, Two Tooth, My tooth, your tooth

_Hey guys, I know I probably forgot to describe Ember other than her fire but since she I based her looks on some of my favorite characters I'll just tell you who. When she is fighting and is fiery she looks like the Manga version of Wisty Allgood from Witch and Wizard by James Patterson. And In life and in general she looks like Katara from Avatar the last air bender when she was in fire nation clothes. I hope this helps!_

We stayed at Tooth castle for a while, roaming the golden halls, exploring the platforms, I guess each of us were looking for a fairy or a set of teeth they might have missed, but none of us dared to voice that idea, that distant hope was best kept silent. When nothing happened we knew we couldn't stay any longer. We gathered up what was left of the Sandman's sand and headed to his home, setting candles and having a short ritual for him. It wasn't much, but at the moment, it was the best we could do. Jack made his way outside. I looked around, I couldn't take it anymore, the mourning the depression. Tooth fairy was still crying and I was barely keeping myself together. So without much hesitation I followed jack outside and found him sitting on a ledge overlooking the clear night sky, there was no moon tonight.

"Hey Jack," I said gently sitting down beside him. He didn't respond. Neither of us spoke for a moment. "What are you doing out here?" I asked, trying to think of anything other than reality.

"I just came out here to try and talk to the man in the moon." He told me. "But it seems he abandoned us." he added bitterly, turning away from me. I took a deep breath, breathing in the fresh chill air.

"Don't say things like that." I said, "I...I'm sure everything is going to be fine."

"No thanks to him." Jack muttered. I didn't know what to say, so I blurted out the first thing I thought of.

"I'm sorry for your loss." I said quietly, my voice barely above a whisper. He tensed, keeping his back to me, and I wasn't sure if he was crying.

"It's my fault." I heard him mutter. "I was the closest, if I had been faster I could have stopped Pitch, I could have saved Sandy." my heart sunk, unable to imagine the pain he must be feeling.

"No, we couldn't do anything, it was too late and you shouldn't blame yourself." I fell silent, realizing I wasn't very good at comforting people.

"You're not very good at this." He said. Was that a smile I heard in his voice?

"Yea I know." I said trying to lighten the mood. "Maybe its better people don't believe in me, they can't hear what a horrible speaker I am." I said with a forced laugh. I thought I heard him snicker and he slowly turned to me. His sad smile melting me, inside and out. Immediately I looked away, glancing up at the stars as I felt my cheeks grow warm. He snickered again and turned away. We sat in silence for a moment, the wind making the only noise. I heard heavy set footsteps behind me and the booming voice of Santa.

"Look what we have here." he said with a smile. Jack and I both turned to him, finding him, bunny, and Tooth standing in the doorway behind us.

"Oi lovebirds time to get going." Bunny joked; Jack and I gaped at them. His blush was much clearer on his pale white cheeks than my tanned cheeks. The three burst out laughing at the sight Santa patted both of us on the head before motioning for bunny to help him ready his sleigh. Tooth fairy forced a smile, her eyes red on her tear stained face. Jack rose to his feet, reaching down to help me up. I took his hand without a second thought, immediately letting go as a searing pain raced through my hand. We pulled away, the same burn and freeze marks appearing as before.

"I guess this is going to happen every time we touch." I said with a sigh, climbing to my feet, the pain subsiding.

"Yea I guess so." Jack said, examining his burned hand as it returned to normal. The three of us waited for a moment, watching Bunny and Santa finish strapping the reindeer to the sleigh. I stared at tooth fairy, a question forming.

"Hey Tooth Fairy." I began. "Where are we going?"

"I'm not sure." she admitted, "We don't know Pitch's plan we can't really decide a destination without at least an idea." I thought for a moment. The three of us quiet and discouraged, but not defeated.

"Why did they take the teeth?" I blurted out before I could stop myself. The tooth fairy's head snapped up to look at us.

"It's not just the teeth," She explained. "It's the memories they hold. When someone is having trouble believing or needs to remember the joy of childhood, we bring them their teeth and they remember..." She trailed off.

"So...What happens now that they are gone?" Jack asked thoughtfully, though I could see the ulterior motive in his eyes, just like mine.

"They'll grow up..." Tooth said sadly. "They stop believing, and that takes its toll...already there are children waking up without rewards for their lost teeth..."

"What would happen if I found my teeth?" I asked bluntly, unable to stop myself.

"Yea, would we remember our lives?" Jack asked hopefully. His icy eyes glimmering. We stared at her intensely, awaiting her answer.

"You two don't remember your lives?" She asked cautiously. We shook our heads. She stared at us pitifully. "I am so sorry I wish I had known I would have brought you your teeth I'm so sorry."

"But if we get them back from Pitch we'll remember?" I assured her. She nodded quietly. Excitement glimmered in Jack and my eyes. I could finally learn who I was before I was Ember.

"In the meantime children will wake with their teeth under their pillow..." she said sounding defeated. I stared at her, her words racing through my mind.

"That's it." I whispered. "That's it!" I repeated with more enthusiasm, gaining the attention of everyone around me. I laughed; _I can't believe we didn't think of it before! _ "We can collect the teeth tonight!" I exclaimed. Bunny's ears rose happily and he looked ready to hop around as fast as his bunny body could take him.

"I don't know." Tooth said uncertainty but a slight hope rising in her eyes. "There are a lot of teeth." Santa and bunny laughed.

"You've no idea how many eggs I deliver in one day." Bunny said with a sly smile.

"Or toys in one night." Santa added.

"We are more than qualified for the job." Bunny added. Tooth looked at all of our smiling faces in turn.

"Alright, get ready, we have some teeth to collect!" she exclaimed happily. Jack fist pumped and let out an excited cry, we looked at each other and in his excitement he hugged me, letting go before we could be hurt again. I felt my stomach flip with butterflies, and Tooth stared at me almost jealous, hiding it with a smile.

"Alright everyone, into the sleigh." Santa announced, his voice booming through the night. Jack, Tooth fairy, and I had already climbed in when Bunny protested.

"Nah mate, I think I'm gonna take my tunnels." he said backing away from the sled. Santa laughed grabbing at Easter but he had already jumped back and was ten feet behind Santa with a tunnel at his feet. "See ya there mate." he said in farewell as he vanished into the hole. Santa shrugged as he climbed into the sleigh, tossing the snow globe ahead of him as he pulled the reins of the rein deer. Launching us into the sky and threw the opening portal. I enjoyed the portals, as strange and chaotic as they were.

Even though everything was moving quickly and you seemed to just be surrounded by a blur of light and colors, if you focused, you could make out the ground under you, the houses, landmarks, trees, the portal was like traveling light speed, but when we arrived in a little town, bunny stood waiting for us. We slammed into the ground beside him, skidding to a stop, the entire Sleigh shaking and trembling beneath us as we came to a sudden stop. Jack and I exchanged excited glances as we both broke into a fit of laughter, enhanced by the adrenaline.

"And that's how Santa travels!" Santa called out happily, laughing from the roller coaster ride, via portal. Bunnymund rolled his eyes falling into step beside the tooth fairy.

"Alright..." she said taking a slow deep breath. "House 3642 little Timmy second floor first room on your right, house 4827 Nina first floor second door on your left, 5556 Mindy asleep on the living room couch, Jake 9975 third floor." she began listing off quickly, and I stained to remember any one of those locations as I turned on my heel entering the house behind me. Finding a bloody tooth under the pillow of a little boy. I hesitated for a moment as I carefully reached under his pillow, he was no older than 11. He shifted as I lifted his head up, and began to stir, I froze, tooth in hand as I stepped slowly back...right into a pile of toys.

"Are you ready to crush'em?" a loud voice boomed behind me as music began to play from the hot wheels track. I jumped startled, dancing around for a minute frantically trying to shut it up, giving in when little Timmy shot up in bed, his head swirling to me.

"Now you've done it." Jack joked appearing from the window. I gave him a goofy grin, as Timmy walked up to the toy, looking around for the cause.

"What turned you on?" he thought aloud, looking around the room right through me. I sighed with a sad smile, at least I wasn't discovered. Jack looked sadly at me as we both headed out, leaving Timmy to deal with the noise maker. We made our way to the next house, amused by Santa and bunny's race through town to collect the most teeth, shouting taunts at each other. I chuckled as Santa appeared in the wrong house, shooting up from the chimney a second later and down another, it was surprising he could fit.

"Hey, I bet Ember and I could collect twice as more teeth than either of you!" Jack called out to them.

"Oi mate! You're on!" Bunny responded, dashing into another house, before hopping to the next faster than I would have thought.

"Come on." Jack said moving in to grab my hand before stopping himself and running ahead, I followed closely behind. We collected as many teeth as we could, working together to move faster. Laughing when a dog tried to attack me and instead leapt right through me, sensing my presence but not who I was. It was surprisingly fun seeing as how we were collecting little bloody pieces of bone. A little under an hour later we all came together as Santa finished the last house. Tooth looked a lot happier than I had ever seen her.

"I use to love working in the field like this." she told us. "I don't know why I stopped." she said sadly, holding out her small bag of teeth that she had no doubt stopped to fawn over each and every one.

"That's nothing." Bunny sneered at her, holding up his larger bag proudly. Twice the size of her small one. "Read'em and weep." he said happily. Jack and I smiled at each other, both of us holding up a bag the size of bunny's.

"It was a losing hand." I told him with a chuckle. Jack and I hi-fived, yanking away out burned/frozen hands.

"We really need to stop doing that." Jack said through gritted teeth as he shook his hand. I clutched mine to my chest breathing calmly as it fixed itself.

"I guess we win." I said proudly, turning back to the others.

"Guess again!" A sudden laugh erupted beside us as Santa leapt from the chimney, throwing down a bag so large I could have climbed into it comfortably. "Santa's the best!" he cried out, bragging to the disappointed Easter bunny. As they began to playfully push each other.

"This is great guys!" Tooth exclaimed, "Now we have all the teeth and all the children have their reward!" she said in a sing song voice, clapping her hands together excitedly. Santa and bunny froze in the middle of their wrestling match, and Jack and I just stared at her open mouthed. "...You have been leaving rewards...haven't you?" she asked hesitantly. We all exchanged embarrassed grins before we all dashed off in different directions. Revisiting our past houses.

That took another hour as we left whatever we could think of, whether it be a coin from a bag tooth fairy gave us or, in Jack's case, a real snowman at the foot of your bed. I could only imagine the parents face in the morning to find a giant snowman under an even larger puddle. Everyone raced house to house again, trying to steal credit for another tooth from everyone else until we had all accidentally met in the same house. Santa and bunny began to struggle, each trying to leave their own gift and I noticed something fall from Santa's pocket. It was his snow globe.

"Santa." I said quietly, "Santa." I repeated louder.

"One moment." he responded grabbing bunny by the ears laughing.

"SANTA!" Santa turned to me, his mouth dropping realizing it wasn't me that time. We all turned to the little girl in the doorway, holding the snow globe and laughing. She tossed the ball and laughed at the appearing portal. The girl looked at them, only seeing Tooth fairy, Santa and the Easter bunny as she walked into the Portal.

"No!" Santa cried out, defeated when the portal closed. We all groaned and rushed outside. "She was little she would have wanted to go someplace she knew!" Santa exclaimed as we ran into the street desperately looking for any signs of the girl. Even though I knew it was bad that the girl had the globe, I couldn't stop myself from smiling, I had a feeling that she would be alright, and we would find her later. After a few minutes we gave up.

"We don't have time for this." Tooth said with a sigh. "We need to get the rest of the teeth."

"Oi, Don't forget about me." Easter bunny said, "Tomorrow is Easter and I still have millions of eggs to color and hide. I'm expecting help ya know." he said eyeing at all of us before pointing a furry finger at Jack. "And no cheap tricks again," Jack shrugged with a smile, some secret joke between the two.

"I don't know Bunnymund, I was just thinking this place could use a bit more snow." he held up a snowball and winked.

"Oh no!" Bunny cried out. "After that blizzard in 92, I don't want another flake of snow on Easter you got that." he said playfully punching Jack. I turned, slipping away unnoticed to leave one last reward. I left a coin and smiled sadly at the child. Thinking of the others a little envious of the gifts they had been able to leave. Unfortunately fire wasn't useful when it came to children. I turned to head back to the others, stopping when I heard a voice call my name.

_Amber, _

I swirled around looking for the source, the little girl was still asleep and there was no one else around. I took a step cautiously to the back window.

_Amber!_

The voice called out happily, something inside told me it was beckoning me to follow it...and so I did. I leapt out the window into the back yard. The others out of sight. So caught up in what they were doing

"That's the last of the teeth," I heard Tooth fairy announce.

"Now come on we need to go get Easter painted." Bunny replied and I heard a tunnel open.

_Amber_. The voice called. I hesitated; I had to choose between this strange voice and my friends. I took a step back to the others before gritting my teeth and following the voice, my curiosity getting the better of me. I followed the voice through town and down a sewer, arriving in a large, dark, damp room. At first I didn't know where I was, that was until I saw he cages hanging from the ceiling, filled with Tooth's little fairies. I gasped turning and trying to escape, but it was too late. Pitch Black stood blocking my path, and I knew this time against him, I was alone.


	4. Memories

Chapter 4

Memories

_I just wanna get something straight._

_There is no fear but fear itself...and spiders, don't forget the spiders._

_Also I would like to thank everyone for reading and favoriting and following and reviewing those of you who did. Cause when I see that (especially reviews) I get excited and I write more and post faster so I have gotten farther with this story in a week than in a month, thank you._

"Leaving so soon?" Pitch asked me with a sly smile. I gritted my teeth and stepped back.

"Get out of my way." I growled my heart pounding as I tried to replace fear with anger. Pitch pouted before smirking. He took a step towards me.

"Please stay awhile." he said gesturing to the large cavern. "No need to leave so soon." This time I didn't wait, I lunged at him, blasting fire from my hands. My fire like hair flared, but in the fire I knew the weakness of fear made it flicker. Pitch appeared on a high platform behind me, staring down at me in mock sadness.

"Now, now Ember, no need to be so cross. I just want to talk."

"What makes you think I wanna talk to you." I hissed like a sizzling fire. He smiled and held out his hand, something gold glittered in his palm, and on the golden case I could make out a face, it looked a lot like me, a tan girl with my same green eyes and long hair, and I knew they were my teeth. I took a step forward, lowering my hands and extinguishing their fire.

"Good girl." He cooed, traveling in shadow to appear about 5 feet away from me.

"What do you want?" I asked eyeing him suspiciously. He reached the teeth out to me.

"I just want to talk and make peace." he said with a sad smile. "I have nothing against you Ember; I do not wish to drag you into this fight." I stared at him tensely, my eyes flickering between his face and the teeth. "Will you take this as a peace offering?" I looked at him for a moment as silence filled the air, my mind reeling. The little fairies around me twittering in mass as if in warning.

"At what price?" I asked un-fooled. A smile crept across his face.

"Nothing more than your partnership." he said. I turned away crossing my arms.

"No deal." I snapped. He stepped closer towering over my shoulder.

"Think about it Ember, what better pair than fire and darkness?" he asked. I glared at him and turned away again. "People would bow to us, under our control; they would look up to us." He went on.

"They would fear us." I stated coldly as he stepped into view again.

"There is no greater feeling than being feared." Pitch said with a smile, "Just as you fear me now." my eyes snapped open and I growled at his smug smile, lunging out and blasting him with fire. He waved his arm re-aiming the attack so it hit a pile of wooden crates, setting them ablaze. The inferno filled the room with a sour burning smell, and I couldn't help but wonder what had been in the boxes. I stepped back in shock and awe that he had redirected my fire. The inferno flared and inside its flames I saw the flicker of darkness.

"Fire is death and destruction, it deserves to be feared." Pitch hissed into my ear behind me. I wanted to give some witty reply, but I knew he was right.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed as I spun to him, punching at him instinctively only for him to catch it. Black sand leapt from him, emanating from his hand and coiling around my arm. Fear welled inside me and I began to panic. Twisting and pulling, desperately trying to break free. The sand moved up my arm as if to encircle my whole body. With a final frantic lunge I pulled free; stumbling a few feet back as I frantically shook the sand free of my body. I turned back to him, but he was gone. I took a slow step backwards cautious, and frantic. He appeared, towering behind me, his eyes glowing red in the shadows. He reached out, resting his hands on my shoulders, causing me to jump away with a little shriek. Pitch laughed, the maniacal chuckle echoing through the entire chasm, as he disappeared again.

"Fire is evil." Pitch called out, his voice echoing, coming from everywhere.

"Shut up!" I cried out again, scattering fire around me before closing my eyes and clutching my head as if the voice was coming from inside me.

"You want your teeth back; you want to remember who you were. But even in life you were just a scared little girl, riddled with fears, afraid of your own shadow!" he hissed at me, his voice like acid.

"You're lying!" I shrieked. Losing control, I felt like I was going insane, far past crazy.

"No Amber I am not." he said using my human name. "You were always particularly fun to play with. He sneered. "Even the simplest of nightmares would cause you to wake from a dead sleep, screaming." he snarled.

"Just shut up already!" I cried out, and when I looked up, Pitch was right in front of me. His hand shot out before I could act, touching my heart, my center. It felt as if he reached inside me, placing a heavy weight around the very core of my being. I froze unable to accept what happened, unable to believe I had lost. Darkness began to overtake me, as it spread throughout my body. Pitch grinned wildly as he pulled away, giving me space as I was taken by shock and panic. I let out a yell, releasing as much fire as I could. It rampaged wildly with a flare of darkness, casting shadows that danced across the floor and walls evilly. Pitch stood still, able to bend the fire around him as long as it was tainted with darkness.

"No!" I groaned glaring at him when my rampage had finished and I was too weak to control a single flame. My hair flared out of my control, almost blood red. Pitch approached me, smiling triumphant as my eyes filled with fear.

_I don't want to die._ I thought desperately, _Oh God please don't let me die._

"Don't worry, you won't vanish right away." Pitch told me, circling around me tauntingly. "I still have use of you yet." I glared at him. It felt as if my insides were turning, emptying and filling with something else, something different...something dark. "You should have just agreed to work with me." He told me. "You could have avoided this." I felt myself weakening and I struggled to remain standing as I stumbled.

"What-what did you do to me?" I asked feeling sick.

"I've implanted you with darkness, awakened your fear. The evil will slowly rip you apart." he almost cheered as if it were wonderful. "Just like I did to your precious sandman." he sneered.

"So you've murdered me?" I growled. He simply shrugged.

"It's not too late for you, should I decide to rid you of the darkness you would survive...however that's unlikely." he said blandly, as if he was bored.

"Why?" I choked out, my breathing growing harder.

"I still have some use of you." he said turning away, waving his arm as if for something to be sent away unimportantly. I stared at him and didn't notice the evil sand horses rallying around me. One of them rammed into me, tossing me onto its back as it charged through the room after Pitch, and I was too weak to pull away. It carried me through one of the small caves on the wall, it was a small hallway lined with 3 torches on either side of the path and at the end of the cave was an empty cage, similar to the ones the fairies had been trapped in. The monster dumped me in the middle of the cage, where it left me in a on the floor where I forced myself into a sitting position. Pitch waved the teeth around before tossing them to me with a shrug, they landed on my lap, and all I could do was stare at the golden box as Pitch shut and locked the gate.

I don't know how long I sat there, the only light came from the 6 dim torches in front of me, and I felt utterly defeated. Even the fact that I had my teeth couldn't cheer me up. After a few moments I decided I had nothing to lose, so I gripped the container tightly, forcing it open to reveal a set of white teeth, that's when the memories began to flash.

-

I was the oldest of three kids, and I always watched over my little brother and sister. When they fell I was there to pick them up, when they cried I was there to comfort them, and when my parents died I was there to raise them. We lived in Colorado, in a small cabin surrounded by forest, we got by, we could have been better but we were grateful for each other. Then that night came. It was a warm summer's night, the air was dry and the wind was strong. I woke from bed with a start, having had a nightmare and I heard a sound like thunder and a dull roar filled the air and I realized that my bedroom was on fire. I can still feel the fear, gripping my heart in an icy cold vise.

_Move,_ I told myself when I stayed in bed, staring blankly at the fire, my greatest fear. _Move!_ I thought again. Everything finally beginning to click. _Move goddamnit! _I thought finally, ripping off the blankets and dashing to the window, coughing on the thick smoke. I opened the window and dove out, running out into the large clearing we used as a yard. I stood there for a few seconds, watching the house that was my life burn slowly to the ground. An alarm went off in my head.

_Not right! Not right!_ It shrieked inside my head._ Where is Catharine? Zachery? _My heart stopped beating and my blood ran cold realizing they were still inside. I didn't want to run back in, the fire and smoke rising up into the night sky threateningly. I thought of my brother and sister, their images flashing in my mind as I took my first step forward, dashing forward I slammed my shoulder into the fiery and weak wooden door, breaking it down as I charged into the house. Picking my way across the fire coated floor to my sibling's room. I dove through a wall of fire, my heart pounding. As I woke them, Zachery, being older, snapped awake, choking back tears, determined to be as strong as the man of the house.

"Amber I'm scawred." my sister whispered to me as I pulled her onto my back.

"No, no, it's going to be ok." I told her. Following my brother to the window, as he opened it, climbing carefully down. I heard something creek above me, and I knew the ceiling was going to cave in. "Amber is here, big sister will protect you." I muttered comfortingly to her as I lowered her out the window, Zack trying desperately to catch her. I could have lowered her all the way under better circumstances, however when I heard the ceiling creak I knew I didn't have that luxury. I dropped her, she fell the last few feet and the ceiling collapsed on top of me. I only shrieked once as darkness brimmed my vision.

"AMBER!" Zack called from outside.

"Run!" I screamed, unable to hold back my panic. "Run to town!" I demanded.

"What about you?" Catherine said, barely audible over the roaring fire. The fire stung as it encircled my legs, burned my arms, the weight of the support beams too much for me to lift, and I was crushed into place under it.

"I'm going to be alright." I lied, tears welling up in my eyes, my voice cracking as I tried not to cry. "Amber's going to be alright but you have to hurry to town ok?" I heard them grunt in agreement and the padding of little footsteps as they ran away.

"We'll be back for you." Zack called back to me.

Knowing very well that I would not be waiting when they returned.

5


	5. Rescue

Chapter 5

Rescue

_**Hello! i uploaded this chapter differently so I'm sorry there are more grammar errors than normal (i know, i didn't think it was possible either LOL) but yea i'm sorry please forgive me. i hope you enjoy please review!**_

I was brought back to the present as the memories ended, locked in the dim little cage. I was shivering, actually cold. my mind reeled at what i had just seen.

The children when I woke as a guardian. i thought in shock. that was them...that was my brother and sister and i didn't remember them. I took a deep shuddering breath. I died protecting them. i faced my fear in death. i thought looking at a shaky hand. And i've become what i feared most. My body compulsed and i hunched over, feeling sick with cramps. fire killed me, i thought bitterly. Pitch is right, fire is evil. I sat for a while in self-pity, reflecting on everything that happened, everything i had learned. It can't be, there must be something more to fire. i thought determined to fight it's bright side...that's it. the bright side. fire gives light, light casts out shadow and darkness. fire gives warmth fights off the cold. i took a deep calming breath. fire gives light and warmth as well as destruction. i need to remain a pure flame. i realized remembering what Pitch had said about tainting my fire.

I have no idea how long i sat there, i guess you could say i was meditating, imagining myself as a single flame, flickering and struggling to keep the surrounding darkness from taking my circle of light. I couldn't cure myself, but it slowed the process. i was calm and the pain vanished when i reached this peace. I looked into the puddle beside me, seeing my reflection for the first time since i was captured. my hair was flaming, but darkness swirled inside of it, almost tangible. darkness crawled across my face like a tattoo, curling around my left eye. my hands were painted with the same swirling dark designs and i took a deep breath. i could hold on. i faced my fear once, i could do it again.

suddenly i heard a crash from somewhere outside, a cage rattled and it sounded as if the piles of teeth had been disturbed. i made my way to the gate of the cage, i tried to gather heat and melt the bars, but i didn't have enough power. at the moment i didn't have any actually. but i knew there were footsteps out there, someone was there and i had a gut feeling it wasn't Pitch.

"Hello?" i called out, my voice echoing through the entire chasm. everything fell quiet and a moment later.

"Ember?" a voice asked. I could never forget that voice.

"Jack!" i called out. footsteps drew nearer and i saw Jack's figure in the cave entrance, my heart skipping a beat with relief.

"Ember." he muttered, running down the aisle towards me. i felt a cold wind blow through the cave and i knew something was wrong.

"Jack get out!" I ordered, but it was too late. the fire from the torches flared, rising darkly filling the whole room with an eerie light before vanishing completely, leaving the room pitch black. i froze, still standing and holding the bars of the door. I heard footsteps echo through the darkness.

"Hello Jack." i heard a voice say, from beside me as the fires burst up again, shedding light throughout the room.

"Pitch." Jack growled, pointing his staff at him, standing outside the cage right beside me.

"Jack it's so nice of you to join us." he said casually, a hint of humor in his voice. Jack's staff began to glow a light blue, ready to fire at Pitch. "Nuh huh ah," Pitch tisked, shaking his finger and motioning to me. "You don't want to do that." he said, his tone growing dark. Jack's eyes went wide as he observed me, taking in every black tattoo on my body.

"Ember..." he trailed off, lowering his staff at Pitch's will. Pitch smirked.

"Good boy." Pitch said, his tone so smug i wanted to scream.

"Let her go Pitch." Jack told him, the little fairy he had saved buzzing around his shoulders.

"I don't think so." Pitch said flatly, taking a step towards Jack.

"Jack get out of here!" i screamed at him. Jack pried his gaze away from Pitch to glance at me, taking a step back. "Run before you can't." i told him, urging him to escape. I could see Jack considering his options, in his eyes i could see he was just like me. He was just caught in all this, he was no hero, no guardian. Why should he have to be the one to battle the boogie man? Jack tensed ready to dash on a moments notice should things begin to look worse than they already were.

"Leave and she dies." Pitch announced quickly, catching Jack off guard. Jack glanced back at me, trying to get a good look at me, my dim fire hair dying, as the dark marks spread. I choked down a sob, hearing the words said aloud made them so much more real. "Besides i have something you want." he added, reaching out the golden box of Jack's teeth. I saw Jack's eyes go hungry as he watched it, eager to find the memories inside.

"Run!" i called again, knowing there was no hope for me either way.

"Silence!" Pitch screamed, waving his hand at me dark sand swept through the cave, lifting me into the air so i couldn't struggle. covering my mouth so I couldn't scream. Pitch turned back to Jack, his back straight, eyes dark and piercing. "I've tainted her soul, Jack, just as i did to Sandman, as it spreads she dies."

"What do you want?" Jack asked growing desperate. Pitch smiled.

"It's very simple Jack." he held out a hand to him. "The staff." Jack stumbled back eyeing Pitch evilly.

Jack no! I tried to scream, my cries muffled by the darkness. Jack hesitated.

"You'll save her?" he asked. "If i give you my staff...my powers, you will remove the darkness and save her."

"Of course." Pitch said waving his arms theatrically. "Would I lie?"

"yes." Jack spat. "on three." he said reaching his staff out. "1-2...3" he released the staff, snatching his teeth from Pitch's grip. a sickeningly evil laugh erupted through the room and i cringed at the sound, the shadows dropping me as they disappeared. Pitch fired the staff, laughing as he covered the ceiling in ice. Pitch laughed like a hyena with his victory. Jack gritted his teeth, sliding the teeth into his jacket pocket. "Now help Ember just like you promised." Pitch ignored him, having no reason to keep his promises he used the staff to knock Jack down, blast him with ice and send him flying over to the cage. "You promised!" Jack screamed after him. Pitch looked at us over his shoulder with a sly grin.

"I lied." and just like that he was gone, disappearing into the cavern. unconcerned about the two now powerless legends. Jack growled and let out a frustrated scream before rising to his feet and turning to Ember.

"Don't worry i am going to get you out of here." Jack said, examining the lock, managing to unlock it from the outside. I stumbled out into his arms, weak from dark magic working inside of me. either because my fire was dying or because he had no ice, it didn't hurt either of us, and for that i was grateful as he helped me steady myself, as we made our way out of the cave.

"Thank you." i muttered to him, standin on my own.

"I swear i will make him fix you." he told me confidently, but i could see the doubt in his eyes. we weren't Santa and the Easter bunny, we were Jack and Ember, and we couldn't battle the boogie man alone, not powerless.

"Look at your teeth." i told him. He stared at me confused. "Just do it." i told him, knowing how long he had wanted to. He opened the box and was greeted by a video, showing his death. i'm not sure if he was aware or not, but i could see it. the pond, the ice, his sister. i Saw all of it.

"Jack i am scared." His little sister said, reminding me of Catherine. she trembled as the ice creaked beneath her, thats when Jack realized coming out on the ice had not been such a great idea.

"It's alright, don't worry." he told her. "We are going to play a little game." he calmed her by saying. he picked up a nearby stick, that has become his staff. "Now i want you to slide on over there." he pointed to a place within reach. "Come on you can do it." she obeyed steadily making her way over. 1-2...3 steps and Jack lunged for her, using the stick to knock her onto the bank of the pond while the ice beneath him gave out, dropping him into the freezing water below. i gasped knowing he wouldn't come back up. i was pulled back to reality as the memory ended. Jack didn't move for a minute. and when he finally did move, he smiled.

"My center." he muttered happily. "I found my center!" I stared at him confused for a moment, yet grateful his memories had helped restore his spirit.

"Center?" i asked.

"Santa says that we all have a center, what makes us tick, the core of our being. i found my center!" When i didn't respond he elaborated. "fun! games! winter! oh my god...i saved my sister. i really am fit to be a guardian." he added sounding shocked. He was jittery with excitement again. shaking, waving, jumping, as if he needed something, anything to do right now. and in his excitement he reached over and pulled me into a quick tight hug, kissing me on the lips as he pulled away. my stomach flipped and i thought that if i spoke the butterflies would fly out. We both froze and he seemed to realize what he had done. He gave me a nervous, sheepish smile. I blushed smiling back at him and we both broke into a fit of nervous laughter. quickly looking away and shrugging it of, returning to the seriousness of the moment.

Center... I thought. I wonder what's my center... I decided it was something to think about later.

"Come on." he said excitedly, pulling me towards the chasm.

"Where are we going?" i asked a little confused. He turned to me with a spark in his eye.

"We're going to make Pitch fix you."


	6. A Losing Battle

Chapter 6

A Losing Battle

We made our way out of the cave and into the main cavern where we found Pitch, still boasting and goofy, drunk on his new found powers. Jack turned to me.

"Can you make any fire?" he asked me. I held out my hand attempting to create a large fireball, only managing a small but steady flame the size of a snowball. "perfect." he told me, stepping closer hoping to not be seen. "When I give you the signal I want you to throw it." I nodded and he climbed down to Pitch's level, keeping to the shadows and hiding. Pitch didn't notice us but he was slowly moving out of sight, and from here I was in clear view should he look this way, my fire hair not exactly the best for stealth missions.

I eyed the hanging cage, not far from where I was and debated my chances before diving off the edge for it. Landing on the hard metal and covering my mouth with my hand to stop myself from screaming. I climbed onto its side and eyed Pitch who was now in clear view as I readied my strongest fireball, managing one the size of a small head. Of course once I threw it, I would be practically drained. The fairies began to mutter at me, probably begging me to set them free, their chirping was bound to attract attention.

"Shh," I whispered, quieting them down and watching Jack draw closer to Pitch, still twirling as if dancing with himself, staff in hand. Jack crouched down behind a crate next to him; once in a while he reached out for the staff, retreating when Pitch moved. Jack looked at me, and nodded once, I took that as signal. I took aim with the fireball, shooting it with all my power. It should have hit Pitch's back but instead he just spun, catching it in his hand and enlarging it, throwing it back to me. I let out a little shriek as I turned, gripping the cage as the fireball slammed into the bars beside me, thankfully none of the fairies were injured in the toss, it missed me by a hair and shook the entire cell.

"Aww, so close." Pitch mused.

"Strike one." Jack called, leaping out at him, and struggling for the staff. Pushed down to the ground. The cage creaked loudly and it almost ripped free of the ceiling. I let out another cry when I thought I was going to plummet to my death. Pitch looked up at me. And in that split second his back was turned, Jack grabbed at the staff, "strike two." gripping it tightly, struggling for it. Pitch was simply too strong for him, and before he could use it to send Jack flying, I undid the lock on the cage, sending at least 100 of the fairies swarming down at him. For a moment everything was in chaos, impossible to see or move almost.

"Strike three." I called out, my voice echoing theough the caverns as I allowed the fairies to work together and carry me down to the boys. "You're out." I said as Jack ripped the grip free from Pitch. Jack took it from there while the fairies unlocked the rest of the cages; the room filled quickly, everything a flutter in hysterical chaos. By the time the fairies cleared, leaving the sewer, we had knocked Pitch to the ground where Jack held the staff to him, threateningly. Pitch growled at us.

"Remove your curse." Jack ordered him.

"Never." Pitch hissed back, Jack's staff glowed brightly, and I could tell by the look in his eye that he was _**not**_playing around.

"Remove it." he repeated quietly. Pitch hesitated a moment before agreeing, rising to his feet and stepping over to me, Jack, never lowered his staff. Pitch reached over, reaching his hand through me again the same as before, except this time, it felt as if he was lifting what felt like a weight from my chest as the dark marks across my body coiled and shrank back, as he pulled out a dark orb of black fire.

"Happy?" He asked Jack acidly. Jack took a step back motioning me to follow. His eyes looked up at me, and the second he turned his attention from Pitch, he lunged. Jack's eyes went wide with surprise as Pitch attacked him. I reacted quickly, forming a fireball with my returning power and slamming it into his back with enough force to send him flying over Jack's head. Pitch rolled to the ground and I helped Jack to his feet, silently agreeing to defeat Pitch while we had the chance.

We approached him; Jack raised his staff as I readied my hand like a flame thrower. Bringing all of our power down but Pitch quickly vanished into the darkness. We waited around cautious for a while, expecting an unexpected return, but he didn't come back. We quickly made our way back to the other guardians, Jack filling me in on what had happened. In the Easter realm they had found the little girl with the snow globe and when Jack returned her home he heard someone calling his name then was lured into the sewers just like me.

"So we are going to the Easter realm?" I asked him, he nodded.

"They'll be waiting for us, then we'll help them deliver the Easter eggs, they need all the help they can get." He said with a smirk. I smiled at him, feeling as if I was following him like a little puppy...the thought worried me. We finally arrived at Easter Island both of us taken aback by the scene before us. Egg shells littered the ground, empty and useless in their color. The guardians stood by, looking sad and very much defeated.

"What happened?" I exclaimed, Jack and I running up to the others. The guardians glanced at us, sorrow in their eyes.

"Pitch's minions came." Santa told us sorrow lacing his words. "There were too many of them...they smashed every egg." I glanced at Easter bunny pitifully.

"And where were you?" Bunny asked, eyeing Jack and I suspiciously, it sounded as if he was trying not to cry.

"I-umm-well you see..." Jack stuttered, glancing at me for help, not wanting to tell them if I wasn't comfortable.

"I was captured by Pitch." I blurted out. "Jack came to save me..." they stared at us in shock for a moment.

"Mates are ya alright?" Bunny asked us, glancing between us. I nodded and looked at Jack who smirked. His icy blue eyes seeming brighter than usual.

"Yea..." Jack breathed, catching my gaze and smiling at me. I remembered that moment we shared in the cave and looked away blushing, receiving shocked looks from Santa, bunny and tooth; as if they knew _something_had happened. I turned my attention back to them, refusing to become a puppy to him.

"We have to stop Pitch." I stated confidently trying to rally them, only to find them staring at me with dead hopeless eyes. "Come on guys, we can't give up yet." I told them. But they didn't respond.

"It's daybreak Ember." Santa told me sadly.

"I'm afraid there will be no Easter this year." Bunny said bitterly looking depressed.

"No, no, no." I muttered grabbing the snow globe from Santa and chucking it a few feet. A portal opened, revealing the small town we had been in earlier. "I'm sure we can do something!" I pleaded. Tooth Fairy looked at me sadly, forcing a sad smile and cheering the boys on.

"She's right, we can't just stay here." Santa and Bunny exchanged looks with a sigh, before loading up the sleigh and taking us to the village. Here it was at least 10am and the sun showered everything in light for a perfect spring day. The children appeared from their houses, yawning and moping, there was a large difference from the day before. We followed a certain group of kids as they searched for the Easter eggs that they would never find.

"There are no eggs."

"I give up."

"Easter is ruined." Came the children's distressed cries.

"No!" Easter bunny called out desperately after them. "Here I am right here! Here are some eggs!" he called out only they couldn't see as he gestured with a small basket of the only four surviving eggs.

"There is no Easter bunny." a child finally said sadly and I saw the light leave Bunny's eyes as he hopped back to us, looking utterly defeated. I placed a hand on his back comfortingly.

"It'll be ok, when we find Pitch everything will go back to normal..." But he didn't respond. We continued following the kids, overhearing a conversation.

"If there is no Easter bunny, there is probably no tooth fairy or Santa." a little girl said.

"Or sandman." another child added.

We all exchanged pained glances and Jack and I watched the others shrink in sorrow.

"No, no!" the younger boy they called Jamie cried out. "They are real I saw them! Last night I saw them!"

_Last night? _I thought, _when we were tooth hunting?_I looked at Santa accusingly. He smiled and shrugged.

"We had one more tooth left." was his simple excuse. I could only imagine the chaos I must have missed the night before.

"It was probably just a dream." The young girl, buttercup, said.

"Yea dude, you are lucky to get any dreams anymore...all I have are nightmares." The other children slowly nodded, tormented by their dreams. We all cringed a little, knowing we were powerless to save them from their nightmares...for now. Jamie sighed, turning to go inside in defeat, muttering under his breath, his eyes caught ours and he lit up light a Christmas tree.

"Guys! Look I see them! Santa and the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy!" he exclaimed. The other children barely glanced in our direction, seeing nothing but bushes.

"There is nothing there Jamie." buttercup said sourly. "Just go home."

"No guys! I see them, they are right...there..." he trailed off as the children walked away. Doubting his own eyes.

"Come on mates, let's go." Bunny said depressed, bowing his head in defeat. Santa nodded in agreement tossing the snow globe with more force than needed. We all piled onto the sleigh and went through, even the roller coaster of a tunnel couldn't cheer us, Santa, Jack and I who would normally break out laughing, sat in silence. Arriving at Santa's home and entering quietly; an elf offered us cookies but even north waved them away. We stood in the globe room quietly despite the elves, who raced around playing with toys and cookies. I am not sure how much time past I tried to build up enough courage to cheer everyone up but I couldn't, nothing happened almost no one moved as the sun set and the moon began to rise, visible in the skylight, beckoning to me, until I broke the disgusting silence.

"We can't just stay here." I said quietly my voice echoing down the halls, taking all my strength to keep it from cracking. North gave me a sad smile ruffling my now calm hair with his large hand.

"Oh Ember..." he said as if to an optimistic child. "Where else is there to go? He already has tooth palace and Easter Island, this is the last safe place." I looked into his eyes, their usual spark gone, and I knew he'd given up.

"But..." I trailed off; Jack glanced at me, his eyes conveying his sorrow. There was nothing we could do. to us things could almost be normal, we were never believed in, it's not like our existence was riding on this, we couldn't understand their sorrow and if it was deeper than mine...I am glad I couldn't. I looked down with nothing more to say.

"It's alright dear." Tooth told me, patting me on the back, "We'll figure something out."

"I bet sandman could help us." I scarcely whispered. Almost everyone froze, no one making eye contact, I immediately regretted the words and kept quiet and I looked up at the moon through the glass ceiling.

_Moon man please, we need help, please send help...PLEASE!_ For a moment I thought he actually heard me, and I saw a shadow dance across the moon, my eyes widening with hope my heart fluttering as a wind blew through the room, throwing papers and ruffling everyone's hair. _Sandman!_ I thought excitedly, _He heard me! The man in the moon heard me! _I thought excitedly, _He's returning sandman!_My heart stopped when the wind turned bitter cold, and a black cloud rolled in. I stopped smiling; anger and sorrow building in my chest, screaming like monsters, worse than anything Pitch could create, screaming to be released. Maniacal laughter echoed through the room as the fog became too thick and dark to see. The only voice that echoed louder than the roaring winds...was Pitch's.

_**Author's note: Annnnnnnnd~ CLIFFHANGER! Cause I love to torture my beloved readers! : D well I hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review and...Yea! ^_^ sorry about the slow update, I didn't have time/patience/ideas to write...really bad combo to have at once. Lol**_

6


	7. battle

Chapter 7

_Alright guys I need your help! Should I make Ember an official guardian in the end of the story? Or is that to Mary sue? And is she to Mary sue as she is? Leave your answer in a review!_

"Greetings guardians." Pitch's voice came in a sneer as we all tensed, ready for the worst. I growled.

_Not him, not now._ I thought desperately, my mind racing.

"Given up yet?" He asked us, his voice was mocking and delighted, it made me sick.

_Don't let him win._ I thought desperately, but no one else spoke up.

"Good because I assure you, fighting will win you nothing." he said snidely, it was too dark to see, but that was all I could take. My hair lit up, flying into the air, the flame kindling and dancing. My eyes glowed a bright green and the light of my fire began to chase away the darkness, clearing the room of the black smog. Pitch was standing on the globe, his eyes gleaming with excitement as he observed us, to him this was nothing more than a game, and he was winning. I glared up at him.

"No," I stated, my voice strangely firm. "We have _**not **_given up." I demanded, the fire around me rising. Pitch's lips twitched into a smile and I growled eager to roast him.

"Ah, Ember." Pitch said acidly. "You are still around."

"Yea no thanks to you." I sneered. The guardians watched intensely, as Pitch and I glared at each other, Santa and bunny seemed surprised at how well I kept Pitch's dark stare. Pitch smirked, amused by something I couldn't figure out. I eyed him cautiously as he chuckled, throwing back his head and laughing maniacally until it echoed through the room and down the halls.

"You think you are so brave." Pitch hissed as he began to calm down. "But deep down you are the same fear filled child you were in life." he finished almost excitedly. "Observe." he said, spinning and tossing a ball of black sand at me. I held up a flaming hand catching it, the sand dissolving in my fire. "So scary," he mused.

"Pitch, you are the one who isn't scary." I stated calmly, he was beginning to work my last nerve. we stared at each other quietly for another moment, I could see bunny silently reach for his boomerang, as to not be noticed, Santa had something in his hand I'm not sure what it was, and took fairy looked like she was going to throw a toothpick at him, everything was silent and everything was so tense you could have cut a chunk of tension from the air with a knife. then, without warning Pitch flung a whip or sand at me, I raised my hand again, blasting fire to knock it to the side, repeating this not once, not twice, but three times, all in such a quick sequence that I couldn't believe my reflexes, and on the third time, I missed. The Whip slashed across my cheek. Images flashed quickly through my mind, the burning house, my scared siblings, the rafters falling. My heart began to race and I struggled to regulate my breathing though I was quickly brought back to this world when I heard the guardians yell.

"Don't touch her!" Bunny Yelled tossing his boomerang at the oncoming whip, it disassembled, shattering to the ground before dissolving. Santa let out a battle cry as he threw the small object at Pitch, it landed at his feet...and immediately exploded into fireworks, forcing Pitch to shield his eyes and withdraw to avoid the sparks. Tooth was the last to move she threw the toothpick with precise accuracy, as if it were a dagger and Pitch the target, as soon as it was sailing through the air hundreds of equally sharp picks appeared, flying through the air at Pitch in a barrage of pointed darts. Pitch's eyes went wide as he twirled, hiding on the opposite side of the globe, his long gown flapping behind him. I regained myself, taking a stance to attack when he reappeared on the top of the globe. Pitch scrambled back to the top, raising his hands up as if to stop us. We halted waiting to see what he had to say. A wicked grin reached across his face.

"Ah, your time ticks away and you waste your time here." Pitch mused causing all of us to tense. He almost bowed, waving his hands to the globe below him as the lights rapidly vanished by the country. "Oh look!" Pitch said, "Only 5 left." he pouted, before smiling and stepping on one, putting it out as if he had stepped on a flame. "4", he stepped on another and another. "3, 2" he mused as he danced his way across the world until there was only one left. "1" he cried out maliciously as he stomped his foot down, the light almost seeming to glow through his shoe. He froze stepping away and observing it for a moment. I exchanged glances with the other guardians, a single name racing though our minds.

"Jamie." I muttered aloud, barely conscious of my actions.

"Jamie?" Pitch hissed, seething with anger. My eyes filled with fear, realization coursing through me. Pitch met my gaze and my blood ran cold. "There is more than one way to put out a fire."

"NO!" I screamed, diving towards him, a flaming hand outreached as he began to swirl into a cloud of mist. My fire ball missing him by a second, exploding on the wall opposite me, burning curtains and toys, the yeti's rushed to put out the fire while the elves dragged along small micro buckets of water. I was too late and now Pitch was undoubtedly on his way to kill Jamie.

"Oi mates, we don't have much time!" Bunny cried out all of us turning rapidly to the sleigh,

_pop! _

I spun around, wondering what I had heard, only to see Bunnymund had vanished, replaced with a small cottontail bunny rabbit. I breathed something between a gasp and a laugh, Santa chuckled and Tooth smiled.

"Oi get in the sleigh!" he commanded us to turn away from him.

"Need some help there?" I asked him as he prepared to leap into the sleigh. He shook his head, relying on his rabbit jumping skills, only to fall short and face plant into the side of the sleigh. This time I couldn't hold it in, and I busted out laughing, death glares aren't very threatening when they are coming from an adorable little fluff ball.

"Oi ...just hurry." he said defeated, allowing me to pick him up and place him in the sleigh he so hated. "Tooth hurry up." he called to the fluttering fairy from across the room. She swerved, sinking lower and lower to the ground until her feet trailed and she tripped.

"Tooth!" I called out as North rushed to her side. "What's going on?" I asked, glancing between Bunny and Tooth.

"They've all stopped believing, we don't have enough believers to keep our powers." Rabbit I mean Bunny explained to me.

"We don't have time for this." Santa muttered, picking tooth up in his arms and sitting her down in the sleigh, quickly taking the reins and throwing the snowball. the sleigh lurched the ride was rougher than usual, the beastly deer shifting and growling. we erupted on the streets near Jamie's house. the full moon shining down on us.

"North?" I asked trying to keep myself from flying off the sleigh.

"Oi, careful there Ember." Bunny told me worriedly, placing a small paw on mine as if to help hold me down.

"If you turned into a regular rabbit." I began

"REGULAR!" he shrieked

"An Easter rabbit." I corrected "and Tooth can't fly...what happens to North?" As if on cue, the sleigh lurched violently, and we crash landed, the deer breaking free and running away to wonder, Santa calling after the monstrous animals.

"Hurry up!" I exclaimed jumping from the sleigh and running down the block towards Jamie's house, the sky above me darkening with every step, as Pitch drew closer and closer. Jamie rushed from the house, Jack Frost following at his heels. I couldn't help but let out a relieved laugh. even if we had been a little later Jack was here, he is the reason Jamie's light didn't go out, he was here to help us. we ran up to each other, the three of us meeting in the middle of the road.

"Jack!" I cried out happily.

"Ember," he said with a bit of a smile, looking worriedly at the dark sky. "What's going on? where are the others?"

"Pitch was at the North pole." I informed him. "He wants to kill Jamie!" I cried out frantically.

"Jack...who are you talking to?" Jamie asked, seeing nothing but empty street in my place.

_So Jack finally got his believer. _I thought with a sad smile. _I am happy for him. _I thought to myself, desperately trying to not be jealous.

"Jamie this is my friend Em-"

"SANTA!" Jamie exclaimed running down the block and excitedly running around him like a small puppy. Jack gave me a sad smile but I just shrugged.

"You'll get believers, when all this is over I swear people will believe in you." he told me. I shrugged.

"its fine, I haven't been believed in for so long I really don't know what I would do if I was. it's no big deal." Jack gave me a sad look before running after Jamie, his laughter erupting from down the block when he laid eyes on the Easter bunny. I turned back to the sky, the dark clouds came closer and I could see that they weren't clouds. they were horses. horses in such a number that they filled the sky so tightly that it was near impossible to tell the difference. my eyes lit with horror and I spun back running to the others.

"Guys!" I called out. "we've got company!" I screeched everyone turned their attention to the sky in shock.

"We can't do this." Fairy said in awe. "we are too weak..." Jack grit his teeth grabbing Jamie by the arm.

"Come on kid I've got a job for you." he yelled over the wind as he leapt into the sky, flying around with Jamie in his arms. I watched him go to a house, I didn't have long to ponder his actions either. the horses were upon us, and Santa and I were the only ones with any power left. my hair flared into battle mode, the flame flying at least 5 inches higher than its regular foot. my arms were wrapped in fire almost as if they were jewelry. the horses charged and I whirled around, screaming and throwing fire, dissolving the horses that I could. Santa remained farther back by the sled, protecting the now helpless Tooth fairy and Easter bunny.

I grabbed a horse by the muzzle as it charged at me, I growled and pushed against it, until I lifted myself onto its back, it carelessly dragged me across the sky until I reached down, grabbing the reins and pulling. it almost threw me off but I held on, my fire coursing over the black sand, burning it away like an outer shell leaving only a horse made purely or red orange and yellow fire. I rode down the streets, firing attacks at the nightmares. I happened to glance over just as Bunny morphed back into his usual large, kangaroo seized self. and Tooth's wings began to flutter and fly, both of them immediately jumping into action and beginning to fight the horses.

_Why are they changing back now? _I wondered glancing around in time to see Jack Frost run out of a nearby house a group of kids following him, their faces lighting up at the sight of the other guardians. I glanced between the children and the newly healed Bunny and Tooth. I smiled, _He did it, he actually did it! _I thought excitedly, pulling on the reins of my horse and flying towards them.

"Hey ice boy!" I called down to him with a smile that the other children didn't even notice. He looked up at me a goofy grin plastered across his face.

"Nice horse fire girl!" he called back, I sat up straight and smiled, proud of my bright steed. I tried to ride up to jack but he quickly put up a hand and backed away another 10 yards giving me a sad look. "I'm sorry but I can't get close you with that heat." he said. I nodded in understanding, returning his sad smile before he ran back to the children, desperate to protect them. I charged off again, shooting down as many horses as I could. At the time I didn't notice as the other guardians grew further and further away. Suddenly I felt a cold wind and I turned around to see a black cloud of smoke rapidly speeding towards me, engulfing me in an almost impenetrable smoke.

"You've become quite a nuisance." a familiar voice informed me. I growled the light from my horse and my fire pushing away the cloud of darkness. "I'm beginning to think I should just get rid of you." he snarled.

"Come on Pitch I would like to see you try." I shot back. I yanked the horse's reins turning around to see him almost face to face with me, we glared at each other before he lashed out, whipping at my horse with his fear sand, startling it. I gripped the reins tightly, trying to calm it down as it kicked and jolted. but Pitched reached out, resting his hand gently on the horse's head almost as if to pet it. The horse neighed and reared stronger than ever as its head turned black, its body resorting back to sand beneath me. I tried to keep it pure or at least fight off the darkness, but my powers weren't strong enough. I made a face of terror as it reared again, the reins shriveling to nothing in my hand and I fell to the ground, landing on my back on the cold cement. I grit my teeth and looked up at Pitch and the demon horse. Pitch just smirked.

"You are no match for me." he told me. "Nothing, is stronger than fear." he waved his hand and the horse rose up, it was going to stomp on me. my hand shot up, blasting the horse with fire until it shriveled, the sand being carried away in the wind. I leapt to my feet, stumbling back and away from Pitch just in time to avoid one of his whips. I tensed ready to fight, taking the idea of a weapon and creating my own. my fire shifted around me until I was holding a sword and shield. Pitch growled and cracked his whip. the dark weapon flying through the air towards me. I raised my shield blocking it and dashing towards him.

Swinging my sword of fire at him. he danced back, so I only skimmed his side. he growled at the large burn mark stretching across his side. It healed in a matter of seconds and I let out a battle cry as I lunged at him again, slashing wildly. he danced back, avoiding all of my swings before attacking me with his whip. I leapt back out of the way raising my shield to block one of them but the second wrapped around my hand. Frightening images flashed in my mind before the whip yanked me forward so that I flew past him and slammed into the ground face down. my weapons vanished and I grit my teeth as I rolled over, he was already looming above me. I growled under his cold stare. as he rose his whip for a final time.

"Each one of these grains of sand, hold a fear. and every time they touch you, you will experience true fear." he said almost hungry for my pain. "and when it becomes too much, you will twist, and you will fade from existence, just like your beloved sandman." I growled.

"I'm not afraid of you." I told him defiantly.

"Maybe not, but you do fear something." he said raising his whip. I closed my eyes and raised my arms to ward off the blow. I heard the whip crack in the air above me and a great thud in front of me...but I felt nothing. slowly I opened my eyes to peak and what I saw took my breath away. Pitch was locked in a battle for power with none other than the sandman.


	8. A Plan

Chapter 8

A Plan

_Hello! Another upload! Well someone who read this story told me that this song __ watch?v=cvrPWhoNdMw&list=FLSEI-pqfJpbwb8ClDTOcyTQ_

_Matches Ember...I fell in love with it! If anyone has songs they think match characters or scenes or hey something you think I would like feel free to share. I am always open to music. :D Sorry for the long wait. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!_

Both of their light and dark whips were intertwined until sandman threw Pitch, sending him rolling 5 yards away. Sandman turned to me and I stared at him in surprise and awe. He smiled reaching out a hand to help me up. I smiled rising to my feet. We both turned to Pitch, anger rising inside of me. Jack glanced at me; he was standing in front of the group of children, protectively. Pitch glared at us, his gaze flickering between sandy, me and the others. he waved his hand a swarm of demon horses charging again, Jack leapt into action, slamming his staff into as many as possible and sending them shattering across the ground around the children who jumped into the sled under Santa's orders.

Sandman cracked his golden whip into two horses in rapid succession, smashing them and sending the sand billowing through the air as it turned from pitch black to a bright golden color. Then, he threw his hands out in a powerful manor; creating golden sand flew around the neighborhood, forming large dinosaurs, unicorns, fairies, animals of all shapes and sizes, everything that sweet dreams were made of in a tremendous display of power. I pumped my fist as if smashing a staff against the ground and on cue a spear of fire erupted from my hand. I twirled it, stabbing through one of the horses. I am sure the children were amazed to see a random rod of fire, spinning and fighting, must have surprised them. One of the horses caught me off guard again and rammed into me head first sending me flying into the air; I grabbed onto its neck and pulled myself down onto its back, purifying it again. I turned my attention to Pitch who was standing on a roof and with my spear ready I charged at him, cutting his whip when he threw it at me. When I got close enough I stabbed him through the shoulder with the spear of fire and pinned him to a wall.

_I did it. _I thought in shock. _I defeated Pitch Black! _Pitch growled as the fire spread around the wound, purifying him the same way he had tainted me. I was in shock and awe and had the most relieved goofy grin on my face...until the spreading stopped his dark skin and cloak regenerating. Darkness crept along my spear, twisting the flames, making them hiss and sizzle as if they were screaming.

"What!" I cried out, letting go of the weapon and pulling my horse back as Pitch grinned at me, holding the now evil fire spear in his hand.

"I am one of the oldest legends." He said proudly taking a threatening step towards me. "Everyone believes in me weather they mean to or not they give me power." he took another step closer. "A child like yourself never stood a chance at overpowering me." he twirled the spear and I grit my teeth, "Unlike you Ember, fear exists, fear is very real." He twirled the spear again. "and fear rules all" and tensed into a fighting stance. my heart racing in uncontrollable panic. Sandman flew towards Pitch, coming to my rescue but Pitch aimed the staff and shot a bolt of fire, setting the roof a flame. Sandman reeled backwards away from the flames. my horse jolted, scared and left me alone with Pitch on the roof. It made me uneasy to see fire that I couldn't control, the dark flames flickering around me, I could feel their heat and I instantly knew that unlike my fire, these would burn me. I took a deep breath raising my hands and driving a wave of fire towards him. he smiled and batted it away as if it were nothing. horror struck I dropped to the ground, covering my head as the flames engulfed me, searing pain pierced my skin and I suppressed as scream. I managed to open an eye to sneak a peek at Pitch, his sickening grin made my stomach lurch, watching him grin wildly as he watched me shrivel and burn in the fire.

I heard someone approach and a cold blast shot over the roof, extinguishing the fire and leaving a layer of snow and ice in its place. Pitch raised his arms to cover his head and dropped the bolt of fire, it smashed on the ground erupting and flickering from existence. I looked back at Jack who was hovering off to the side of the roof. He motioned for me to hurry up, and I didn't hesitate. I dived off the building following Jack to the sled. Once there all of us turned to face Pitch, who was still standing on the roof, grinning crazily at us. he raised his arms theatrically, hundreds of nightmares appearing from the dark cloudy sky, far too many for us, even with sandy. I heard the children whimper as Pitch laughed, his very presence would have terrified them if we weren't there to protect them.

"North, we need to get the ankle biters out of here." Bunny demanded as every single nightmare began to stampede towards us. behind me the kids whimpered and North frantically dug through his pockets searching for his snow globe. "faster mate!" Bunny exclaimed, everyone was already on the sleigh, eager to get out.

"Ah, I found it!" North exclaimed, almost dropping it and trying to grab it in midair. the first nightmare reached the sleigh; it kicked at the snow globe and sent it flying up into the air. Bunny pulled out his boomerang and destroyed the monster as North caught the globe, tossing it ahead of the sleigh letting the portal open.

_We are too late._I thought dreadfully as the nightmares approached. I glanced back at everyone, Jack stood tensed with his staff ready as the sleigh lurched, far too slowly. I couldn't take it, we were out of time. I leapt forward, showering the oncoming monsters in fire, destroying some while many pushed through towards me and the sleigh. I wanted to run; being caught in the middle of the stampede was frightening.

"Ember!" Jack called out after me, turning to smash a nightmare that reached the other side of the sleigh.

"Ember?" I heard Jamie mutter confused as he stared at what to him must have been random fire. Jamie blinked, "Ember?" he repeated his eyes widening as the sleigh and him along with it vanished into the portal. I heard Pitch yell in anger, the cry echoing through the entire neighborhood, sending chills down my spine. I spun around frantically trying to get back to the portal as it closed. a nightmare ran into my back, pushing me down to the ground, knocking the breath from me. I glanced around to see Pitch was no longer on his room but standing in front of me! I scrambled to my feet, glancing worriedly at the shrinking portal. Pitch was unbelievably angry and was about to take it out on me. I waved my hand, creating a wall of fire to separate us but his whip flew through it, striking my shoulder and extinguishing the fire. horrifying images flashed through my mind fire, blood, death. I stumbled back eyeing the portal, my escape and dived out of the way of another attack breaking out into a run, ducking and swerving around the black horses as I went. I felt them charge, the nightmares and Pitch closing in around me as I dashed frantically, the portal almost closed. I dived through at the last minute, narrowly missing a nightmare, Pitch yelled like a wild animal, the portal closing behind me.

I thought the rides through the portals were crazy on the sleigh but they are nothing compared to going through alone. I tumbled and I was thrown and flipped, it was like being put in a ball and sent rolling down an up escalator. I was slamming into invisible walls and had no control over where I was going. finally, I landed on my butt in North's workshop, surrounded by guardians, children, elves and yeti's alike. I groaned and rubbed my neck, looking up as North lifted me off the ground into a big hug, crushing me in his arms.

"OH! you did it!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"Oi, let the girl breath mate." Bunnymund told him with a goofy grin. North let go, landing me unsteadily on my feet. I chuckled and looked around to make sure everyone was all right. All eyes were on me...and I mean _all _eyes. It was a little unsettling until I realized what all eyes meant. The children were staring at me as well. I stepped to the left then to the right, watching their eyes follow me. Jack smirked when I glanced up at him shrugging his shoulders with a goofy grin.

"Ember?" Jamie asked me, taking a step forward to touch me. I slowly reached out a hand, touching his small one with mine. It was solid, I could hold it, I existed. Shock and amazement raced through me as I tried to absorb what had happened.

_He didn't pass through me. he can see me, they believe in me. _ I thought in amazement. The children smiled at me sending chills of excitement down my spine. It glanced at Jack who was still grinning wildly. _Unbelievable. _I thought amazed.

"Can I touch your hair?" one of the younger children asked, watching it's flames dance in the vast room. I nodded, too awed to speak, I knelt down beside her taking a deep relaxing breath, my hair fire extinguishing and turning it back into regular thick , coarse red hair. The kids let out a breath of awe and I suppressed a laugh as they each ran a hand through my hair wondering what happened to the fire.

"Alright, alright," jack said after a moment, getting them all to step away. "Let the human torch breath," I raised an eyebrow at him.

_Human torch? _I mentally inquired catching his gaze. He smirked at me, ignoring my reaction. I sighed and rose to my feet, again watching him wave his staff around lazily.

"We need to figure out what we are gonna do about Pitch." Jack continued.

"Well this workshop is safe." North said, offering his workshop as a haven to keep the children safe. we each turned to look at him and he shrugged. "mostly." the children looked around, seeming to realize where they were. Wonder and excitement raced through them. Santa laughed. "I'll take the kids to have a look around. I'll be right back maybe you will have ideas by then." The kids cheered and ran off to explore, North chuckled and followed them. The rest of us turned to each other and began pitching ideas.

"We could turn this place into a fort and wait for Pitch to attack, He'll be at a disadvantage in North's territory." Tooth recommended. I shook my head.

"No good, He can already get into this room without a problem." I said remembering when he appeared on the globe.

"And even if he couldn't who is to say he will come tonight? remember these kids need to be home by morning." Bunny pitched in.

"We could attack him in the sewers. leave the yeti's here with the kids as protection and raid his lair." Jack said. Bunny shook his head.

"He will get here and hurt the children, just like at Easter island." he added sounding a little defeated. we thought long and hard.

"But we'd be ready this time, we won't have a repeat of that." I said almost to convince myself. we didn't move for a while, until there was a sound like thunder. the entire workshop shook, papers flew and there was absolutely no doubt that it was Pitch.

"Prepare yourself!" I heard North cry out as he ran up to us with the children following close behind, the elves gathered in the center of the room while the yetis' secured the entrances, preparing for battle. we kept the children safe beside us while we frantically scrambled for a plan. Jack flew up to the skylight, glancing out.

"There are hundreds of them!" he cried out worldly. North his a large red button and the emergency lights began to flash red, the doors and windows closing with a secure metal frame, a steel cover emerged and began to shield the skylight, riding the room of moonlight and leaving us cast in reds and yellows from adolescent and alarm lights. Jack quickly scanned what he could from the window, before it was completely covered.

"There are hundreds of nightmares, but I don't think Pitch is with them." he announced. North had his swords in hand and he paced the room frantically. the children looked around nervously and I gave them a reassuring smile, telling them everything would be ok.

"We could run? go to tooth castle, I have my fairies back." Tooth said. Jack shook his head.

"It's to open there, there would be no keeping them out."

"We could smuggle the kids to Easter island." Bunny suggested, but once again the ideas were shot down. there was another thundering boom and the building shook again. the kids huddled together, one of the little girls clinging to my leg, I ran a hand comfortingly through her hair as I talked with the others.

"We could send some of us out to fight Pitch." the rest of us could stay and protect. Tooth suggested. we gave her an uneasy look. "I know it's not the best plan but I really don't think we have a choice the nightmares will just keep coming if we don't stop Pitch." we agreed.

"Who is going to go?" North asked, all eyes fell to me and Jack who froze under their stares.

"Um, no offense guys but we are no match for Pitch black." I said, not willing to fool myself into thinking otherwise.

"Come on, you two are the only ones who know where is lair is!" Bunnymund replied.

"I'm sorry but Ember is right." Jack said unable to believe what they were telling us. "I mean Pitch use to rule the world, and we are just two teenagers. we haven't even been around long enough to get believers...outside these 5." he added. Suddenly there was a ringing sound and we all turned to Sandman who was angrily shaking an elf so that the bell rang. he'd been trying to talk for a while, but with no voice, he couldn't speak over our conversation.

"What is it Sandy?" North asked him. images flashed rapidly above Sandy's head but they made no sense to me. North laughed. "Yes! why didn't I think of it before!"

"Wait what?" Jack asked.

"Sandy you're a genius!" Bunny exclaimed.

"What did he say?" I asked looking around at the others curiously.

"It's perfect!" Tooth cried out, clasping her hands together. Jack and I exchanged confused glances while Sandy crossed his arms nodding proudly.

"So what's the plan?" Jack asked giving them a smirk, excitement already gleaming in his eyes. my heart skipped a beat and Tooth almost forgot to flap her wings, I saw her drop a few inches in the air.

"You two will go off and seek assistance from Mother Nature and Father Time!"

6


	9. The Elders

Chapter 9

The Elders

_Hello everyone I am sorry for the wait but thank you so much for reading! :D I regret to inform that son, my little fanfiction is coming to an end, but on the plus side I have two more RotG fanfictions I am working on and they will be up shortly after this one is finished! Thank you for your patience and please read, review and enjoy!_

Jack and I exchanged glances before turning back to North.

"Who's father time?" Jack said.

"Who's mother nature?" I replied, both of us asking at once. Tooth, Bunny and North looked at us shocked and Sandy actually face palmed.

"Father Time is one of the oldest guardians there is." North said in shock.

"He is older than Sandy." Bunny added.

"Like Sandy?" Jack asked.

"Like Sandy's older brother." Bunny corrected. Causing Sandy to cross his arms and both Jack and I laughed at Sandy's childish behavior.

"And Mother Nature is from the same age, she is kind and he guardian of the forest." Tooth told me quickly. "Otherwise known as Gaia..." she trailed off at my blank face and sighed.

"Hurry, we don't have much time!" Santa cut in smashing the snow globe against the ground. "This will take you to their area, find them and hurry, be careful." he said ruffling our hair as we passed stepping into the portal.

"Later," Jack said peacing out as he stepped in before me. The portal brought us to a swamp, little lanterns providing the only light, they lit a path through the swamp and darkness with light as soft as fireflies. Jack and I exchanged glances before stepping forward, careful of the quicksand and mud around us as we walked the path until a small cabin came into view, a gentle glow emanating from the windows. Jack and I stopped walking, looking at the cabin, it was nothing like the other guardian's homes, it wasn't laced in gold or lined with teeth, or emanating joy with toys or even eggs, but as we drew closer it felt as if we entered a strange area as if time and space warped around us and the air grew thicker. Our shadows moved over the house and that's about when we heard the door swing open with a bang, causing us both to jump and tense.

"Who goes there!? I swear I've got a staff and I'm not afraid to use it!" an old man's voice rang out. The man spotted us. "Ruffians!" he exclaimed and charged at us. "Think you can sneak around here eh? well we'll see about that!" his voice was old and it sounded as if he was speaking without teeth, making it hard to understand, the old toothless man, nonetheless it didn't take understanding to know that he was charging at us, waving a large wooden staff in the air with a crystal orb on top. His hair, or what little he had of it, and his beard were white, and his robes were stained, ripped and obviously very, very, VERY old. He swung at me and I jumped back out of the way Jack drew his own staff, prepared to block the man if he came any closer. A figure appeared in the door of the house and a woman rushed towards us.

"Father, Father!" she cried out, reaching over him and placing a hand firmly on the staff. The woman appeared to be in her 30s while the man seemed to be in his 80s. "Father what's wrong?" she asked her voice kind and gentle.

"Hoodlums! Hoodlums! They've come for me!" he exclaimed crazily, turning a pleading eye to her. The woman looked at us, her deep green eyes almost seeming to glow as they examined us in turn. Staring into them it felt as if I was being pulled into a forest. The man struggled once against the woman but his old frail body was no match for hers, she wasn't fat, but she wasn't skinny either, she was thick and her long brown hair flowed smoothly around her. I looked up at her, almost in awe of her, I barely knew her but I could tell she was powerful, but not cruel, I could tell she was kind, but stern, and all around she seemed to be like the mother I assume I lost, the mother I wanted.

"Patience Father." she told him calmly, her voice soothing "Let's give them a chance." she said as she turned back to us. "Now," she said gently. "Who are you?" I hesitated a moment and Jack stepped forward.

"I'm Jack Frost...and this is Ember." he said.

"We've come on behalf of the guardians." I added in. the two looked at each other.

"See Father, they are here for the guardians they mean us no harm." she said gently, her voice ringing through the still air around us. She released his staff and the old man gave us a final dirty look before turning and hobbling into the house. The woman smiled warmly at us and gestured for us to follow when something ran through the shadows. She tensed before ushering us into the cabin. I looked around and realized it was larger on the inside than on the outside and it was warm from a fire crackling in the fireplace. She led us into the living room, a small room with a simple blue rug in the center of the brown floorboards, on the rug was a simple square wooden table and surrounding it were four comfy looking plush chairs, one of which chairs was already occupied by the crazy old man.

"Please, please sit down." she said we obeyed and she ran around the little home into the kitchen, bustling around frantically. Father time kept his staff close, staring into the orb at the end and running his withered hands across it and along the wooden staff that looked as if it were made of tree roots intertwining with each other. His gaze was far away from us, deep in thought and I don't even think he noticed we had come in, let alone sat right across from him. After a moment the woman walked back into the room, carrying a tray of freshly baked cookies, offering them to us before placing them on the table. Jack and I each took one and thanked her. Both of us uptight in the awkward situation.

"So, what did you come to talk about." she asked as I bit into the cookie, my excitement dropping when I realized they were raisin and not chocolate chip, and based on Jack's face he had the same realization. I swallowed quickly before talking; trying to keep my tone as polite as possible, dispute the given situation.

"The guardians are in danger." I began. "Pitch Black has returned and he is currently launching an assault on North's workshop in the North Pole." Mother took a deep breath, her body tense and face serious. Father still seemed hypnotized by the cloudy orb as if there was something in there but I could see there wasn't, and I wondered if even as a legend would I grow old and become senile like that.

"We have come to you for help, the guardian's sent us to request that you would come with us to defeat Pitch and end his attack on North's workshop...I don't think they can last much longer." Jack finished for me, surprising me with how seriously he was taking this. He sounded almost guilty, as if this was somehow his fault.

"And who are you?" Mother Nature asked us quietly, her voice barely above a whisper and I strained to hear it above the crackling fire.

"My name is Ember." I told her, inclining my head in respect. "I control fire."

"I'm Jack Frost." He said, smirking, and I quickly looked away before I could allow myself to get lost in it. "I am the master of ice and winter." he said. Mother nodded as if in understanding.

"That explains why they would send you." she said. "It's been ages since I've even heard the name Pitch Black." she began. "We have not left this house in centuries, we have been long forgotten by humans, taken for granted along with our gifts to them." she was about to say something else when the old man next to her spoke up.

"Mother." his frail old voice barely above a whisper, but no longer trembling. "Pitch has returned." he sounded as crazy as he had earlier, repeating what I had just said but his voice now held an air of authority. "It's time we return to earth...we must stop the nightmares." he said, his eyes still distant, and not seeing any of us. Mother remained silent and I followed her lead of watching him, silently but intently. His fingers trailed the creases in his staff up to the orb that he never looked away from, a fog swirling inside of it.

I found myself silent in awe as he touched the orb drawing in its grey clouds with golden trails of sand, just like sandman's. It swirled, the grey and gold cloud growing and seeping out of the staff, engulfing him in its impenetrable mist. Jack and I rose to our feet, alarmed but awed by the scene, stepping back as the cloud grew, but never reaching us. Mother remained calm, unflinching despite the strange midst that swallowed Father Whole. The mist vanished as quickly as it had come, but Father Time was not there, in the old man's place was a young man in him late twenties or early thirties, he held Father time's staff, he wore the same light blue robe, only now it was intact, crisp and looked as if it were brand new. His hair was brown, short and thick, his misty grey eyes seemed to have renewed life, and sparked with excitement as he looked around. Mother Nature smiled at him.

"Welcome back Father." she told him gently, he smiled, and then turned to look at me and jack. The slightest smirk curling his lips.

"What's wrong? You two look as if you've just seen a ghost." he smiled, and Jack smirked. I stared at him, my eyes wide with surprise, causing his smile to grow. "I am father time dear." he said. "I can reverse my age." I realized how stupid I must look and quickly regained by stature, he laughed heartily and gripped his staff tightly.

"Shall we go?" Mother asked as she rose to her feet, glancing at us to see if we were ready. I nodded still dazed, as we followed the two elders outside. We walked through the dark swamp and forest and despite the shadows that danced around us I wasn't worried. Mother and Father both gave off a comfortable safe feeling. We stopped watching once we met a little pond in the middle of a ring of trees, the full moon shining brightly through the canopy and reflecting off the water, causing everything to sparkle and glisten in the darkness.

Mother stepped forward, stopping at the water's edge extending her hands out as if to reach the trees across the pond. Her eyes closed gently, and the wind picked up around us, whipping locks of my hair, and leaves around. The trees creaked and groaned as they swayed, but it almost seemed like they were singing a song.

_leaves and wind_  
_water and waves_  
_foxes and squirrels_  
_guide, our way_

_moon up above_  
_and soil below_

_carry us away_  
_far far away_  
_far far away _  
_from this place._

I realized I only caught part of it but it was calming and relaxing and very subtle, I realize I had heard it before, mixed with the rustling of the bushes or splashing of water, as well as other signs of nature like birds singing.

The veins of the trees reached out, waving through the air and the water began to glow, and I no longer saw our reflection in its shallow depths but a watery image of the North Pole. The nightmares were still attacking and our friends were barely able to hold them off, but they somehow managed to keep them at bay. Mother stepped forward, her green gown-like dress trailing into the water after her bare feet, the pond glowed brighter and Father followed. Jack and I exchanged glances before following, the water feeling strange and foreign as I walked through, as if walking through Jell-O and when I stopped walking I found myself standing in North's workshop.

A quick glance around showed me things were coming to an end...and not in the guardian's favor. Many yeti's and elves lay useless or unconscious on the ground. Black dust littered the floor almost in piles, Sandy quickly made his way around the room, touching it and twisting it to his will, as the nightmares flew above us close to the skylight that was still sealed off with metal. The other guardian's and children were up against a wall, cornered as they tried to keep the monsters at bay. A little boy screamed as a nightmare grabbed him by the arm, pulling him forward, away from the guardians.

"Oh, no you don't mate." Bunnymund called out, tossing his boomerang through the creature and smashing it to dust. Tooth pulled the boy back to the wall with the other terrified children. Father was the first to move. He strode forward with confidence that amazed me, striding through the battlefield to the group huddled in the corner. Mother walked away, not after Father but to the Yetis and elves on the ground, touching them gently and reassuring them. Her touch almost seeming to heal them, as many rose to their feet immediately after. Both Mother and Father appeared almost unaware of the nightmares that plagued the room, toppling over piles of toys, smashing what they could. When one lunged for us Jack didn't hesitate to smash it with his staff. One flew towards me, its mouth open in a monstrous shriek, as if planning to swallow me whole.

"Here horsey you hungry?" I said with a smirk, twirling a ball of fire in my hand. "I hope you like spicy!" I threw the swirling flame into the monster, and once inside it exploded, sending sand flying and incredible fireworks to burst through the room. Jack chuckled.

"Isn't that a bit flashy?" he asked with a grin. I just smiled back and shrugged.

"Well you gotta make an entrance." I said letting the colorful fire rain down around me. He laughed, avoiding them embers as they fell.

"Time!" North cried out, reaching out to hug Father who simply put up a hand to stop him. Sandy looked down from his sand made airplane, acknowledging his brother before returning to fighting off the nightmares. A child shrieked as a nightmare flew at them, Father turned around slowly, staring at the oncoming nightmare before slowly raising his hand, his palm to the nightmare. The monster shrieked as it slammed into his hand, smashing to dust as if it had run into a wall, all at once the ten nightmares around Father slowed to a stop in mid bite or snarl, some even in mid-flight. And within only a few seconds they blew away on an unfelt wind, dissolving as they would over time.

Mother Nature made her way through the room with slow smooth steps, waving her hand here or there, humming a gentle tune as the potted plants around the room waved and danced. Their veins or branches reaching out and slapping the nightmares, some leaves even flew across the room to slice through a horse like daggers. Jack, the children and I stared in awe of the power, because within a few minutes, the demons that the guardians had been fighting for the past 1/2 hour, were all destroyed, leaving nothing more than a fine powder around the room that Sandy then turned gold to fuel his own power. I found myself wishing I could have that type of power, and I wondered if I would acquire it over the years...I am expected to live forever, but power like that might make it more...interesting.

North paused for a moment, still holding his two swords before letting out a booming laugh as he slammed his fist into the red button that locked up the workshop, this time it unlocked it. The doors and windows opened and the metal around the skylight clicked back into its hiding stop to reveal a starry night sky. The children stared at Father Time and Mother Nature in amazement. Quickly running up to them and admiring them. Father smiled, flashing his white teeth as he showed the children his staff, letting them gaze into the swirling orb at the top. a few children rushed to mother nature, who smiled kindly and patted a few of them gently on the head, telling them about how brave they had been during the fight, and giving them little flowers that she made bloom from a nearby flower pot that had recently been plain dirt. Sandy's plane dissolved and as he touched ground, joining the rest of us guardians as the kids finished their meetings with the elders.

"Oi, long time no see mate, thanks for the help but we had it under control." Bunny said, confidant and proud as always.

"Yea, so I saw." Father said as he smirked at Sandy. "But I think we definitely saved the night." he said, poking fun at his little brother. Sandy scowled and crossed his short little arms, looking nothing like Father.

"Mr. Time how old are you?" a child asked from the back of the crowd. Father smiled.

"Older than ages." he replied, being as vague as possible.

"More than 100?" another child asked with a gasp. Father chuckled. "Yes, far older." Sandy elbowed me, flashing a few silently signs and making a face as if he were giggling.

_Yup he's an old man alright. _Sandy had joked and I giggled with him, causing everyone to look at me.

"What's so funny?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow having a pretty good idea already. I shrugged and Sandy and I exchanged glances before smiling innocently at everyone.

"Nature! It's so nice to see you!" Tooth exclaimed giving Mother a large hug. "How are you doing? How is your garden?" Tooth asked, her words rolling off her tongue in rapid succession. Mother smiled.

"It's nice to see you too Tooth, I am fine and my garden is better than ever." she replied responding to everything in order. I hesitated, a question forming in my mind, and it took me several seconds before gathering enough courage to speak my mind.

"Umm...Father...I was wondering...I always thought Sandy was the oldest guardian, but if you are all considered elders than...how many elders are there?" Time snickered at my mention of _them. _

"No Ember, we are not elders." North said, shocking me.

"But Christmas has existed for like-forever!" I argued. "How are you not Elders?" North chuckled and insisted that if you live forever your view of _old _is very different.

"You see Ember." Father explained his voice gentle as if talking to a child. "Elder is a certain generation of guardians. When the world was first created by the man in the moon many, many years ago, Nature and I were created to watch over it. She covered the planet in gorgeous plants and vegetation, lakes and trees and eventually animals. I tracked time, days, hours, minutes, it kept the world moving, so that it would not stop spinning. We were the first of many."

"Shortly thereafter the Man in the Moon created humans, creatures who would survive off my garden, that's when Time became needed the most. Afterwards came Sandy, we needed him to give the humans dreams, and through dreams hope... and belief in us." Mother said continuing the story. "He is Time's brother because it takes time for stone and rock to erode to sand, which is what, gave Sandy his form. And from there all was peaceful." Mother finished with a smile. I nodded in understanding but Father cut in.

"But of course things couldn't stay that way. Humans had many emotions and once fear and cowardice became powerful, they gave birth to Pitch Black." Father growled, as if angered by something as little as Pitch's name. "Pitch began what was known as the dark ages, he created nightmares to plague Sandy's dreams. And plunged humans into a world of fear. That was until we, with their help." Father added, motioning to the others. "Defeated him, sealing him away." Father finished. I stared in amazement of what I had just heard.

"Technically there are only 4 elders. Sandy, Time, myself, and Pitch." Mother explained getting back to my original question. "That is why he is so powerful even though he had been sealed and defeated in the past."

"I understand." I said with a definite nod.

"Oi, I hate to ruin our little reunion here but we've gotta get going." Bunny interrupted. "We've got company." the rest of us ran to the window he pointed to, seeing another army of nightmares rushing our way in a large black wave, moving like a storm on the horizon. We scrambled, Father, North, Jack, Sandy and 2 children climbing into the sleigh and taking off through a portal. Bunny smiled at the few of us who remained. "What do ya'll say we have a lil' race?" he asked, tapping his foot so a tunnel appeared. The remaining three children smiled, jumping in after bunny, followed by Tooth, Mother, and me.

The tunnels are like giant slides for those of us who can't hop or fly through them, sending us tumbling and twirling, like a slide you would find at a carnival or water park. We slide down for what feels like miles but it only lasts a few seconds before the end comes into view and we get spat out into reality.

This time I found myself standing near the entrance to Pitch's sewer cavern. I looked around for the others but they were nowhere in sight.

"Where are the others?" I asked as we made our way towards the entrance.

"Oh, don't worry mate, they'll be here." Bunny said with a wild grin and as if on cue, North's sleigh came into view coming down with a crashing halt. The children looked amazed and startled at the same time, letting out a whoop of excitement while the one little boy threw up over the side. I smiled as they climbed out, my heart beginning to pound.

_This is it. We're finally going to defeat Pitch...this is finally over!_ I thought excitedly, the adrenaline pumping through my veins.

"So what's the plan?" I asked as we ran towards the entrance of the cavern, Mother carrying the sick little boy, her kind touch making him feel better almost instantly. Jack threw back his head in a laugh as he ran beside me.

"Plan?" he asked, swinging his staff as if striking down an imaginary enemy. "Defeat Pitch, what other plan do we need?"

_**Author's note: Yes the song was corny, cheesy and probably unwanted but I like that type of stuff so :P lol either way, here is a link to the song (written/sung by me) on youtube.**_

watch?v=uibCLMuSCpw


	10. Fun House of Shadows

Chapter 10

Funhouse of Shadows

_This was supposed to be the last chapter...then I decided not lol I hope you enjoy sorry for such a long wait._

I followed the others into the sewers, finding them a maze different than before.

"Oi Mate, ya gonna lead us to Pitch?" Bunny said glancing at me, we looked down the dark hallways; they seemed to go on forever. I shrugged helplessly.

"It's different I said, I can't." Bunny sighed before turning back to the tunnels.

"It's so dark down here!" North's massive voice bellowed down the empty halls.

"Yea," Tooth agreed. "Its pitch black." as if on cue the shadows seemed to leap towards us, Santa Claus and Bunnymund were the first to go. They stepped forward, as if to fend off the shadows, but not quick enough and they were swallowed whole, vanishing from sight.

"North! Bunny!" Tooth yelled, rushing forward only to encounter a wall. She banged on it calling to her fellow guardians, but there was no reply.

"Tooth." Mother said placing a hand on her fairy shoulder. The rest of us turned away, glancing down the endless hallway, it had already shifted. Our entrance was gone; leaving us in what would have been complete darkness had Sandman not been producing light with his golden sand.

"I'm scared." a child whimpered, all of them cowering together.

"Don't worry, we're gonna get through this." Jack comforted. "I'd never let anything happen to you guys." a dark chuckle erupted down the hallway, sending cold chills down my spine. I took a deep shuddering breath, and Mother Nature placed a comforting hand on my shoulder to calm me.

"We have no choice." she said, announcing it to all of us. "He's blocked our exit, we need to move forward. I nodded in agreement but Father Time stopped us. His voice powerful and strict in contrast to Natures gentleness.

"Or we make our own." He stomped his staff against the ground, the crystal ball at the top flickering and swirling as the wall in front of him shattered, revealing another long dark hallway.

"I do not think it is safe." Nature ventured but Time disagreed.

"And is you're way? Walking along a predestined path? Set by none other than the boogie man himself?" he asked. Had he been talking to me I would have been offended, his tone challenging, cocky, and arrogant. But somehow Mother managed to keep calm.

"Perhaps Pitch wants us to break our own path? Maybe the set path is shorter, faster, he would never expect us to actually play along and follow It." her voice lightly touched with a British accent. They stared at each other for a moment as if in some silent battle before turning their backs on each other.

"Come along children, follow me." Father said, lifting his staff as he walked down his self-made path. The children glancing around confused. I saw figures flashing above Sandy's head, but I found them hard to understand. Arrows and clouds, and time. Father Time must have seen. He looked right at Sandy when he did it, but he just ignored him. Tooth looked around following Father and Jack as well as 2 children, the other three came with me and Nature and Sandy. Father simply set his staff alight, filling a section around them with light as they vanished into the darkness, the hole in the wall sealing up behind them, shifting and forming two new hallways; upon glancing I saw no sign of our friends. Nature waved gently to Sandy who stuck his tongue out at Time before following us down the pre-set path. I glanced aside, barely noticing that Sandy was trying to talk.

"What's wrong Sandy?" I asked watching his sand shape and reshape, he pointed frantically but I didn't understand it. "You~...want us to hurry!" I ventured but he just shook his head and repeated the motions, exclamation marks flashing above his head. "You have an idea!" I cried out happily. I watched as the Sandman face palmed at my stupidity and tugged gently on Mother Nature's long green dress.

"Yes dearie?" she asked, her voice sickly sweet and he repeated the gestures. "You don't like it?...Something is wrong." she tried and he nodded. Nature agreed, it's too easy, there is something coming...but I can't tell what it is though." Nature said troubled. I felt a cold wind and it suddenly felt as if the entire hallway was closing in on me. Locking me in. I glanced back making sure everyone was still there. Sandy illuminating the section around us. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and when I opened my eyes the light was gone.

I spun around, reaching through the darkness blindly searching for Sandman, Mother and the children. My hand found fabric suddenly and I jumped, squeaking in surprise and pulling back.

"Ember dear is that you?" Mother asked calmly.

"Yes." I squeaked. Embarrassed. My hair flared, and I ignited my hands, the almost harmless fire illuminating the hallway around us. We both spun around but sandman and the children were nowhere in sight.

"Pitch..." Mother muttered to herself, I could feel her anger growing. "Thank you my dear for lighting the way." Mother said kindly, though I could tell she was distracted. We looked at each other and silently nodded, and began silently making our way forward. My hair fire crackled in the darkness, as we made turn after turn, stopping dead in our tracks when a wall came up.

"Don't tell me there are actually dead ends in this place." I growled. Slamming my fist into a dark wall. Mother Nature sighed.

"I'm afraid so." we turned around; the paths had already changed, evaporating into shadow and reappearing as walls barely visible from the darkness and floor. We walked again our footsteps echoing through the empty halls, chills raced down my spine and I braced myself, waiting for whatever was lurking in the shadows, watching, to lunge. I don't know how long we were trapped, wandering through the endless halls, but eventually they led up to a large circular room with stairs lining the walls. There were no cages but chains hanging from the walls and I had a sinking feeling that we had just entered a dungeon.

"Welcome." a voice whispered from the shadows. Mother and I tensed our heads twirling to examine the large dark empty room.

"Pitch!" I yelled trying to mask my fear. "Show yourself coward!" I called out; I was greeted with a dark chuckle.

"There is no point in trying Ember," Pitch's voice said amused. "You're so afraid, so scared so helpless...it's oh so delightful!" he finished with a cheer. I grit my teeth the fire around me growing in real rage.

"I am NOT afraid of you!" I screamed into the darkness. Another dark chuckle.

"Maybe not." he said, appearing with a smirk from the shadows across from us. "But you are afraid of something and believe me Ember, I will find It." he smiled as if it was all just a game.

"AGG!" I screamed like a battle cry, blasting him with a ball of fire, but he was already gone and the fire shattered on the wall behind him, sending sparks flying, littering the area with embers. His laughed erupted from the room and I became aware he was playing with me.

"I'm not afraid of anything!" I called into the darkness. Another laugh.

"Don't be foolish ember. We're all afraid of something...and your fears are the most comical." I growled and stepped back, my heart beating like a humming birds, I almost jumped out of my skin when Mother rested a hand on my shoulder.

"Calm down dearie, we need to keep our heads in this kind of situation." I nodded in agreement beginning to calm down when another hand came to rest on my other shoulder.

"She's right you know, we wouldn't want you losing your temper now." Pitch said, mocking Mother's slight British accent. my eyes widened and I spun around, lunging away from the wall and launching an array of fire at Pitch, it was wasted and merely smashed against the wall singing the wall and a bit of Mother's dress, sending her tumbling out of the way. Pitch's laugh filled the room again.

"I swear to the moon if I get my hands on him." I muttered under my breath, my heart pounding faster than before. My fire flickered uncontrollably, showing how unsteady I was.

"Careful darling, you're acting rather hot headed." Pitch laughed, once again impersonating Mother Nature. I would have believed she said the unbelievable words if it weren't for the malice in the voice. I could tell Mother was tense as well and I saw a flicker of movement in the hall above the stairs ahead of me.

"Pitch." I hissed dashing forward.

"Ember!" mother called behind me, my eyes widened as I reached the top of the stairs, I spun back to her, realizing my mistake, but before I could take another step a gate slammed shut, locking me out of the round room.

"Mother!" I screeched. I saw her helpless face and I knew I was on my own; she turned, something flashing behind her. A fierce look crossed her eyes and the veins on her dress seemed to spring to life, the thorny rope sliding into her hand like a whip as she stepped aside, tense and ready. Pitch stepped forward with a smirk, his long scythe in hand. He swung at Mother but with amazing speed I didn't know she possessed she ducked out of the way, and with a flick of her wrist snapped the whip at him, the thorns digging into his side. Pitch grit his teeth and jumped back out of the way and swung again. Once more Mother moved out of the way, and she whipped at him, only for it to be blocked by the blade of his scythe, each time chopping her weapon down a few inches.

This continued for a moment like their own intricate dance, until mother didn't have much whip left. Pitch smirked, lifting his halberd a final time freezing when a ball of fire landed beside him, scorching the stone floor. He looked up and glared at me, my hand sticking through the bars of the doorway.

"Look at me; I'm your opponent here." Mother demanded, her whip regrown in her hand as she dashed at him. Pitch turned barely blocking the whip; the vain wrapped around the handle of the scythe just below the blade and yanked it free of Pitch's grasp. Pitch stepped back, almost into another fireball, his shadows leapt forward, attacking Mother like spears, she jumped away from Pitch, twirling and swirling out of the way and Pitch glared up at me.

"Meddlesome child." he hissed, and just like that the gate in front of me was replaced with a dark shadowy wall, and the sounds of battle immediately stopped. I banged my fist on the wall as I was engulfed completely in darkness. I screamed out for Mother Nature, but heard nothing in reply. I rested my head on the wall, defeated, taking a deep breath before turning to face the long pitch black hall before me. Tense, I took one stiff step forward, prepared for the worst as I set my hair aflame, the ends reaching towards the ceiling as I walked, illuminated with an orange and red glow.

_You're afraid. _Pitch's words haunted me, so vivid I couldn't tell if it was in my mind or in reality. I took a deep breath continuing down the empty hallway.

_This place is like a fun house, it's just missing the creepy ass clowns..._ I thought to myself, and suddenly there was a dark chuckle. A cold wind blew, causing my fire to flicker in and out.

"You're not getting anywhere with this." Pitch's voice called out, closer this time. The wind picked up and I struggled to keep my flame alight.

"Pitch! Show yourself!" I yelled back, spinning around unable to spot him in the darkness.

"You're so weak, your efforts are so very pointless." he sneered, ignoring me, even closer this time. I tensed my back to the wall. "You said you're not afraid of anything...but really you're riddled with fears, I can feel it, I can sense your fear. Your sweet delicious fear, it rolls off you in waves." I growled, growing angrier with every word. "Let's put your theory to the test, shall we. So tell me Ember." his voice right beside me now. "Are you afraid of the dark?" I felt him beside me, and with a cry I through my fire through the hall, barely missing him, I saw his face, smirking 1/2 concealed in darkness, as he faded back into shadows, the cold wind finally knocking my fire out, and no matter how hard I tried the air around me wouldn't allow my fire to light.

I took a deep breath, not moving for a moment, hesitant to make my way through the maze. After a moment I took another deep, shuddering breath and continued. The halls twisting in the dark and the walls seemed to breathe as I ran my hand along them, feeling my way through the darkness.

"I am not afraid of the dark." I said gently, to myself, taking a breath, steadying my breathing, I could feel my heartbeat slowing. "Do you hear me Pitch? I am not afraid!" I repeated louder this time.

"It's not the darkness that scares people." Pitch said knowingly from somewhere in front of me. "It's what's lurking in the shadows." my arms flailed and I pushed away from him, who was only a foot away from me. I felt his long, cold, bony fingers wrap around my arm like a skeleton and drag me through the floor as if I were nothing more than a ghost of a person. I felt like I was being pressed into nonexistence and when I appeared in another hallway, this one lit with a few dim torches, I collapsed to my knees, alone. I looked around my breathing shallow as I rose to my feet, looking up and down the hallway that only went one way. without a word I headed down the path and stopped in my tracks when I heard something ahead of me, whatever it was it wasn't' human. I tensed, testing my fire, able to hold a fireball in my hand.

Footsteps echoed through the hallway, and the beast came into view, it was one of the nightmare horses, it was twice my size and I braced myself as it raced closer. _That's it. _I thought as I spread out my arms, grateful to have my power back as I lifted myself off the ground. _I've had enough running and hiding._ Hovering as flames swirled around me. I closed my eyes to the light they caused, _it's time to fight back, I'm done being scared. _I thought angrily and opened my eyes glaring at the monster my eyes as red as fire, as a demons, as a nightmare.

**(Author's note: I'm involving pictures OoO *gasp***  
** ZV3SVdERTQMaimQSOjkVJVY8v8Ud 6AQgVoHhUV0m1eMqk_NLUdBvIB2Pv2YC4NS98HxUKBSMB6 BlsnN9MtpjWkBJ7Qoz7JJwsyiIxU tzMF3iTZXFVBIR7ezg**

**hope you like)**

the fire swarmed forward, washing over the black horse. Fear crossed its face, and it let out a shriek so in human, so horrifying, something that should only exist in the deepest pits of hell. It echoed through the halls, and the horse incinerated as the fire moved, each trail of flame vaporizing the nightmare in a flaming inferno.

I landed gently on the floor, taking a fearless step forward. Power flooded through my veins, I was invincible, unstoppable, Pitch didn't stand a chance against me, I could fight Father Time face to face and he would be powerless against me. I felt so powerful there wasn't a thing in the world I couldn't do. drunk on my new level I made my way down the hall, my red eyes taking in every detail, all my senses were heightened, I could tell everything around me, the darkness and the light both extremely vivid to my eyes as I walked, it wasn't long until I came to another large room, and saw Pitch standing in the middle, waiting for me.

On the sides of the dungeon like room, chained to the walls were the other guardians, and in a cage like cell were the children. I snarled at Pitch, smoke billowing from my nose like a bull. Mother and the children stared at me mortified by my fiery, angry appearance. Santa looked defeated even when he looked at me, how could he? My eyes were still glowing red and embers and sparks whizzed through the air around me, falling from my hair that was reaching and waving towards the ceiling in a billowing fire. That was sure to give them hope, I was powerful, and now I could rival Pitch, Santa needed to cheer up. I growled at Pitch, my wrath growing.

**(**** CsVV_q1exzouVLqYIxR27ooSdu_Jgaz-UCFaYGQDlWx4_FhMy-5w7cwbvTosAgqAE20t7axGcPg2Sc BtbE3N2NWMArslO5pDkVBuTgx9_tTmbM-KQqkx-3mT**** )**

"Mate...you alright?" Bunnymund asked worried but I ignored him. Pitch let out an excited laugh, hopping around giddy. "Oi ya Gumby, get ahold of yourself!" Bunny yelled again, did they think Pitch was controlling me? He wasn't I was on my own, in complete control of my new power that must have been from the children finally believing in me.

"Pitch I hope you're ready to die." I said my voice stern; Pitch smiled, and pretended to cower.

"Oh I'm terrified!" he laughed, still bent down in a fake cowering position. I growled, and stabbed my staff of fire into the ground; it thudded like a real staff, shaking the room.

"DON'T MOCK ME!" I bellowed, in a voice that didn't belong to me. Pitch straightened up, seriously, a slight smirk tugging at his lips.

"You're quite serious aren't you." he took a step forward, stopping when the inferno around me flared up.

"You bet." I snapped. Taking on a fighting position, ready to end Pitch, to end fear, once and for all.

"Very well then." he said somberly, straightening up. "Let us begin."

**Author's note: **  
**yahoo I'm adding an extra chapter lol that wasn't all supposed to be there but it came to me and since it was a lot I decided to split it into two chapters. I'm sorry if I disappointed you I know I was leading up for that to be the last chapter but I got so many new ideas! lol and I am sorry it took so long, anyway I hope you enjoyed it and please review tell me what you think, whether you liked it or not and why. :) I wish you all a very good day and I'm off to write the rest thank you my beloved readers lol and the pictures were because I just finished an epic anime called shakugan no shana and the main character's appearance works for Ember so I edited her eyes lol it's a good anime I recommend it. ;)**


	11. The Final Stand

Chapter 11

The Final Stand

_In this chapter I believe I reached what is called overkill :'( please don't kill me!_

"Ember, mate, you've got to pull yourself together." Bunny called out.

"He's right dear, please stop this." Mother pleaded.

"Ember, careful, I don't want to put you on naughty list." North called out.

I growled, annoyed, can't they see I'm gonna save them? They can try and rush me all they want but it won't help. I have the power I just need to get past Pitch. Pitch frowned at them and with a snap of his fingers all the guardians and the children were gone. Faded into the shadows...into silence. I tensed, pointing my spear of fire at him.

"What did you do to them!" my voice thundered through the large room.

"I merely sent them away so we could talk." Pitch said calmly, watching me intrigued. I stabbed the floor with my fire rod again.

"I don't wanna talk!" I screamed angrily. "I have had enough of you, Pitch! Enough of your games, lets end this." I ended with a snarl. Pitch sighed pulling a staff from his cloak. I almost gasped in shock when I realized the staff belonged to Father Time. "How did you get that?" I asked, looking around but since all of them were gone I couldn't find Father.

"Father has fallen and Time is now under my control." I growled, bracing myself to fight.

_It doesn't matter. _I thought, _I am still more powerful. _The fire rose around me, my eyes still glowing red.

I ran at him, the fire around me whipping out at him around me. Pitch lazily tapped the glass orb on the staff, the golden sand inside replaced with Pitch's black sand. It swirled and I began moving slower, and I was almost suspended midair as I began to slow to a full stop.

_No...No...NO! _I shrieked in my mind, throwing my arm forward, my fire lashing out and snatching at Pitch's hand, scorching him until he released the staff, it clattered to the ground, and before he could pick it up I lunged forward, the spell of time stopped as I slid and grabbed the staff. Almost instantly the sand inside was replaced with a rapid fire, swirling and burning crazily, almost melting the glass of the orb. Everything slowed then sped up, then slowed again, time was frantic and I growled in frustration, and with one motion I threw the staff behind me until it clattered to the ground, sliding to a stop when it hit the wall. Pitch stared at me observing me as I lunged blindly at him again. He pulled something from his cloak that I recognized as bunny's boomerang. I snarled as he blocked me, both of us locked in a battle of strength pressing against each other.

"It's amazing isn't it, overwhelming the power you possess." Pitch said admiringly.

"Yea no thanks to you." I hissed, "I'm going to defeat you!" I snarled, gaining the upper hand and slamming the boomerang to the side. He threw it before be melted into the shadows appearing behind me on the opposite side of the room. I ducked from the boomerang and he caught it behind me.

"Quite the contrary." he said with a smug grin. "It's thanks to me you unlocked such a level of raw power." I stared at him, his words genuine as he threw the boomerang it flew around the room and I ducked out of the way and it cut my stream of fire I had intended on using.

"What are you talking about!" I growled furiously.

"Your flames are dark, just like your power. You're tainted and you did it all on your own." he clapped his hands. "This is only a small fraction of what you could be Ember. This is anger, this is destruction...Fear would make such a lovely addition." he ducked as I launched a fireball at him, it slammed into the wall uselessly scorching the dark exterior. I formed another in my hand.

"Keep dreaming." I hissed, throwing the fireball that was smashed midair by the flying boomerang. I growled and pitch caught it throwing it again.

"There are no dreams left." Pitch called out. "Don't you see, I've won! All that's left are nightmares!" he hissed the boomerang flying back around and slamming me in the back of the head. I let out a frustrated growl, spinning around and snatching the boomerang in a flame encased hand as it tried to fly away, almost as if it were alive, it withered in my hand, like a cornered bunny or squirrel. I tried to use it but my hand scorched it so badly it couldn't fly. I growled throwing it to the side as well.

"Look at you! Such potential, all wasted on an arrogant teenager." Pitch said with a laugh, pulling a handful of teeth from the pocket of his cloak. "Together we could be so much stronger, you aren't even able to wield the other weapons." he said motioning to the discarded boomerang and staff. "I could use them, and with your power we could rule the world! They would believe in us!" he said grandly.

"They would fear us!" I snarled throwing a fireball the size of a boulder at him. He melted into the shadows avoiding my attack and reappearing to my left.

"And they won't now? Look at you, you're more of a monster than I am." Pitch said, motioning to me. I stumbled to a stop and growled. "One look at you and I won't need to scare children myself, do you have any idea how much fear, how much power I got when the children, when the guardians saw you!" Pitch cried out triumphantly.

"Enough!" I shrieked, charging towards him like a bull. He threw the handful of teeth at me, they scattered across the ground around me, the memories of random children flashing in front of me, entire childhoods, the good... and the bad. I slid to a stop, trying to fight off the impossible memories that flooded my mind.

"Such a pity you declined on my offer." Pitch said sounding impossibly close but I couldn't see him due to the memories before me. "But no matter how powerful you are, Fear is stronger." the memories stopped, replaced by Pitch who was only a few inches in front of me, wielding his own giant scythe. My eyes widened as he slammed the side of the blade into my stomach, throwing me across the room until I slammed into the wall collapsing, closing my eyes to the pain. "Do you feel it? The fear of losing? The fear of death?" he said taking another step towards me. My eyes snapped open and he stepped back at their full blood red appearance.

"No," I snarled. "And you just made a big mistake." I lunged forward with my sword of flames, swinging it at Pitch as I rushed forward, he kept blocking it with his halberd, shock and a dash of fear in his eyes. "You have just made me very _**very **_angry." I seethed, swinging my sword and hitting him in the side, singing his tunic and sending him flying into the wall. He growled rising to his feet.

"Fight me all you want." Pitch said calmly. Lifting his hand to reveal the already healed singe. "You'll never hurt me. You're all alone Ember, and you've met your end, now face it!" He yelled raising the halberd. I braced myself for impact, ready to take the blow when something hit Pitch's hand sending the scythe flying from his hand.

"She's not alone." Jack's voice rang out, I looked up as he appeared at the doorway, somehow he had managed to find his way through the labyrinth of walls and shadows.

"Jack." I said more monotone than I intended. Jack looked at me, fear or worry crossing him.

"Ember?" he asked. My hands blazed and the inferno surrounding me grew.

"You're not supposed to be here!" Pitch yelled at Jack. Jack turned away from me, evading Pitch's ball of sand and ran to my side, ignoring my dark appearance. He slid to a stop 8 feet away from me, unable to draw closer due to my surrounding fire. I could see the effects of the heat already making him melt or sweat, weakening him.

_He'll be alright. _I thought _my only goal is to defeat Pitch, everything else can wait. _I thought angrily. The fight continued, Jack and I exchanging blows with Pitch until Jack threw a few well aimed balls of ice, upon impact they spread and grew binding Pitch to the wall.

"Ember, do it now!" Jack called out. On cue I threw my hands forward the fire swarmed, filling the room with impossibly thick smoke and heat, fire blasting over everything. Pitch shriveled under the flames, but the blood curdling scream didn't come from him. Jack yelled and cried, with a voice I didn't know was possible. He was stuck in the crossfire and my fire was killing him, slowly but surely. "Ember stop!" he cried out in a pained voice.

_No! I can do this! _I thought mentally. _Toughen up Jack you'll be alright._

"Ember!" he screamed again. His voice weaker, tears filled his eyes.

_Hang in there, just a few more seconds, this will work I can defeat Pitch! _

"Ember please!" Jack pleaded, his voice so weak and pathetic. I grit my teeth and with a frustrated growl threw my arms down, the fire coming to a halt. My breathing deep and angry. Pitch was a melted disgusting monster, huddled over 1/2 burned and melted in a pile of limbs. Jack however was scorched, his entire body burned almost black and covered with soot as he leaned largely on his staff, desperately trying to remain standing. His breaths quick and shallow. Something dark flashed in his eyes before he began to regenerate still weak. I stepped towards him but he stumbled away fearfully. I halted, my heart dropping seeing him back away. Pitch's evil laugh filled the room. We both looked at him, he was regenerating, North's swords, Mother's whip and teeth surrounded him, the weapons he hadn't gotten to use.

"Do you get it yet Ember?" he asked. "Do you understand why you can't defeat me?" he laughed again fully returned to normal. I looked between him and Jack who stepped frantically away from me, he couldn't look away from my blood red soulless eyes. "He's afraid of you Ember. You nearly killed him...he should be." Jack was still breathing quickly, and I knew he couldn't simply regenerate his power the way Pitch had, though his appearance was normal his power was not. "Your dark power can't hurt me Ember, I am the very taint that makes your flames an inferno." Pitch finished proudly. I snarled, gritting my teeth I prepared to lunge at Pitch.

"Ember." jack said, stopping me. "Please, stop." I stared at him, his weak form desperately clinging to his staff, his eyes no longer full of fear, but rather pity and pleading. I shook my head, my power to great to part with, dark or not I could use it, I would find a way to overpower Pitch, how could less power help me? "Ember please, if you don't...I'm gonna have to fight you and Pitch...and I can't do this alone..." he trailed off weakly and I wanted nothing more than to go to his aid. Pitch watched us with a smirk amused, as if he were watching a drama. "Ember." Jack said, his icy blue eyes searching mine for a hint of what I use to be. "You're better than this, you're summer, bright days, caring, the warmth of family and friends...you're not this...this is destruction and anger a monster...please come back to me Ember." I stared at him.

_No, _ I thought mentally almost pleading with myself. _I'm stronger now, I don't want to be weak...no...no...no... _

I closed my eyes, my body giving out beneath me and I fell to the wall, leaning on it desperately trying to remain on my feet. I opened my eyes, they were returned to their green state.

. /-h3o5gbGvICc/UKpQS5G8DII/AAAAAAAAATY/H24qYSf0OFw/s1600/wallpapers_Shakugan-No-Shana_helix-designs(1.6)_THISRES_

Jack smiled and I ran to him, I reached out to touch him, to hug him, but I was unable to touch him for more than a moment before we both became burned with fire and ice.

"Bravo, bravo!" Pitch called out clapping his hands. "Such a very touching scene." he said pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. "However I'm afraid it's all in vain." he grinned. The darkness on the edges of the room reaching out to us, snatching at us. "I'm afraid this is where you both die. there will be no more snow days, no more hot summer fun, no more pool parties or snowball fights, there will be no fire to light the night, only darkness." he smiled, his army of shadows grasping at our clothing. Jack and I exchanged weak, defeated gazes and I slipped my hand into his, both of us ignoring the searing pain that followed.

"One last stand?" I asked Jack weakly, my voice sad, almost squeaking. He smiled sadly, our hands smoking now from the opposing elements of the wielders. We both turned to Pitch, raising one hand to him, not letting go of the middle. Pitch laughed.

"How sweet, are you going to defeat me with love and friendship?" he sneered and laughed. "Pathetic." Fire leapt from my outstretched hand at the same time as the ice from jack's hand. Both elements raced side by side, washing over Pitch, who twitched and flickered but did not get hurt. He rose to his full height, a mere shadow against the fire and ice. We closed our eyes, both of us running out of power at an alarming rate.

_Fire._ I thought to myself, thinking of my core. _The fun of a hot summer's day, the warm feeling around a fire on a cold winter's night telling stories with your family. _I thought thinking of every good thing I represented, and I could tell Jack was doing the same, I could almost hear his thoughts in my mind.

_Fun, snow days, friendship. _He thought desperately trying to pull together more power. Pitch's laugh washed over us.

_The warm feeling of helping people, helping a friend. _I stopped myself. _A friend, the fun of being with a friend, the memories with them, the warm feeling you got from the snow days, playing a snowball fight with them. _Something inside me clicked, a type of understanding and I knew Jack felt it too.

"What's going on?" Pitch asked, looking around as if the fire and ice was beginning to make a difference.

_Fun with friends, and the fulfilled feeling you get from it, that's where Jack and I cross, that's where we are compatible. Our powers match. _The fire and ice that slid from both of us merged, forming a twister of elements that bombarded Pitch, who let out a horrific scream, something that belonged only in the deepest darkest nightmare. My hand no longer hurt from holding Jack's it felt normal. Jack and I opened our eyes and watched Pitch shrivel and melt, freeze and shiver. His body deforming and re-forming until he couldn't any longer. We let go of each other. Stopping our onslaught on Pitch, neither of us feeling as exhausted as we had a moment ago.

We examined our hands from where we had been gripping each other, I had a severe case of frostbite and he had what was sure to be a first degree burn but neither hurt. And neither regenerated, it was a permanent scar on our eternal bodies. We smiled at each other not minding. I looked into his gorgeous blue eyes and wanted no more than to be lost in them, but I knew there was something more important that had to be done. He smiled at me before we approached Pitch's shriveled mass on the floor.

"Where are the others?" I demanded. Pitch didn't speak, he made some pained, pathetic sound.

"The lady asked you a question." Jack hissed. We were greeted by another pained mumble.

"I suggest you bring them back." I said my voice full of malice. Pitch raised a shaky hand into the air and snapped. The cage and chains appearing on the walls again, filled with the guardians and children. Jack and I rushed to their aid, releasing the children first then the others. Mother wrapped me in a warm embrace and Father ruffled Jack's hair happily, both of us receiving hugs from the little children. Jack and I smiled hugging each of them in turn before rushing to the corners of the room, retrieving the guardian's weapons and returning them one by one until I was holding mother's whip and Jack Father's staff. Mother and Father smiled and chuckled at us.

"What's so funny?" Jack asked innocent and curious. Father shook his head and Mother waved off the question as they took their weapons back. Sandman flew happily around the room, using sand to make fireworks and other joyful celebrating things all of it raining down like confetti. Our smiling and celebrating stopped when we heard Pitch move, he began to reform and tried to rise to his feet, too weak to do much of anything. Mother and Father exchanged glances and approached Pitch's weak pathetic form. Pitch found himself in their shadows and turned to face them, looking up at their anger filled faces.

"Mother, Father, how wonderful to see you're alright..." they glared at him threateningly, ignoring his attempt to play it off. "You know I meant no harm, it was just a game...you can't blame me for trying," he said flatly. "To be the only one not believed in, it's painful." he pleaded desperately for pity, both of them ignoring him. "No hard feelings...right?"

"Pitch, you've delivered your last nightmare." Father said angrily, slamming his staff against the floor. from here on you are banished to the gap between time and reality to live out your days in solitude." pure horror crossed Pitch's face as Father slammed his staff down again the golden sand in it turning and a dark purple portal appeared beside Pitch.

"No! Please! Time!" Pitch pleaded seeing the cold stare in Father's eyes he turned to Mother who was always so gentle and kind. Mother please, surely I don't deserve this!"

"What's done is done, you cannot be allowed to cause any more damage to my earth or its inhabitants." she said sternly. Pitch stared at them horrified as he was sucked into the portal.

"I'll come back!" he called out. "As long as there is fear there is me! He stated. "ME! PITCH BLACK!" and with that the portal closed behind him, leaving no trace behind.

We all returned to the North Pole afterwards. Resting after the journey. We had dropped the children off on the way which thanks to Father was on time, before the dawn that had passed so many hours before.

"I don't think our brother is going to bother us anymore." Father said to Sandy happily.

"Brother?!" I exclaimed. Time nodded. "The three of us are brothers, Sandy and Pitch were twins in fact...I'm the oldest." Time said proudly.

"So all the elders are siblings?" I asked but time shook his head.

"The only elder who isn't is Mother, she came from the earth while I came from passing time and over time come trials and those trials bring hope and fear. Bringing both Sandy and Pitch." Father explained. I nodded in understanding and we returned to relaxing until.

"It's time Jack." North said picking up a large book and opening it to Jack. "Are you ready to become a guardian?" Jack smiled and signed his name. Everyone cheered and I congratulated him with a small kiss, before turning away bashful, unable to believe I had just done something so bold. My red cheeks causing everyone to laugh harder.

"Hey hold up everyone." Jack said, "Ember played as much of a role in defeating Pitch as I did, how come she doesn't get to become a guardian?" he asked puzzled. My heart skipped a beat at the idea. Me a guardian, the very thought made my heart flutter. The guardians and elders looked around stalling.

"Well, umm, you see Jack..." Bunny started.

"Ember gave into the darkness." Tooth finished, "She can't become a guardian now..." she looked at me, "I'm sorry dear."

"But that's not fair, she overcame it!" Jack cried out angrily.

"It was a test Jack, and I am afraid she failed." Mother said sadly, giving me a pitiful look.

"Power is an addicting thing." Father said, the words from him rang so true I knew he spoke from experience. "And Ember's power mixes all too well with the darkness, if it were one of us it would be alright, but evil and fire play too well together." he said apologetically.

"I'm sorry dearie." Mother said sadly. Jack opened his mouth to argue but I stopped him.

"It's alright." I said forcing a sad smile, you could almost hear the crushed hope in my voice. "They're right, the power was too much for me, I almost killed you." Jack looked at me sadly.

"Are you alright? This means that aside from the few children we know, no one will believe in you." He asked looking into my eyes, feeling my pain. I blinked his stare away and smiled brightly.

"I'm fine, really. Now let's get back to you. Isn't there supposed to be some big shindig with the signing of a guardian?" I asked turning to North who lit with excitement.

"Yes, we almost missed the best part!" he exclaimed clapping his hands. The yetis and elves springing to life with music and balloons, confetti flew everywhere. I laughed as Sand flew an airplane across the air above us. Sprinkling Sand and confetti everywhere.

I can easily say that was the happiest day of my eternal life. Through the trials of those days I found who I am.

I am Ember, the legend of fire, I am the warm feeling you get when you are cuddled around the fire on a cold winter's day, the fun of a hot summer day. That warm caring feeling when you are with your friends or family, and the fun times you have with them. That's me. Whether it's that exciting feeling you get when you see bright fireworks on a hot summer's night or that warm blush when you are around your crush. Its proof of my existence, and it's all I need.

The end

**Author's note: Well I finally finished, Hurrah! However I am now currently in the middle of two other rise of the guardian fan fictions lol. :)**

**I just want to thank everyone who read this far, thank you for being so awesome, your support means a lot to me and i really hope you enjoyed the story :) **

**Please review, I mean you made it this far might as well go all the way right :) thank's for reading and I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to finish reading :)**


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